Vol. 12 Issue 3 by Backdrop Magazine

Letter from the Editor

Julie Ciotola | Editor-in-Chief backdropmag@gmail.com

backdrop | Spring 2019

We’ve all heard the term “the Athens bubble,” the idea that Ohio University — with its picturesque brick streets and renovated buildings — exists blissfully unaware of much of the area’s economic problems. As much as I love this university and the opportunities it’s brought me, its demographic is certainly not representative of Athens County and its surrounding counties. The people, culture and issues of Appalachia stem from a rich and arduous history, one that deserves continuous recognition as the region evolves. For our third and themed issue of Backdrop, the “community issue,” we challenged our staff to think outside of the university bubble. Admittedly, this issue is a small fraction of the full story of Athens and surrounding Appalachian towns. But it serves as a unified product, produced by a hardworking staff, who all presented different aspects of the region and those who give it character. Staff writer Annie Goins investigated the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Facility, which produced uranium for nuclear weapons during the Cold War (p. 10). The facility, now in the process of demolition, was an integral part of the Portsmouth area economy during the 1950s and ‘60s. Associate editor Grace Dearing spent weeks exploring the history and contributions of Athens’ black community. Dearing focused on the closing of Mount Zion Baptist Church, and the group of residents that make up the preservation society (p. 22). Those individuals are determined to preserve both the church and Athens’ black history. Each story in this issue has its own history and community that it explores. From opera houses to meditation practices, Backdrop’s community issue celebrates the diversity of this region. I hope you, as readers, not only soak in each story, but consider how you can make a contribution that extends beyond your daily bubble. And luckily, our staff suggested 19 ways for you to do so (p. 36). Best,

SPRING 2019 » VOLUME 12 ISSUE 3

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backdrop magazine EDITOR-IN-CHIEF JULIE CIOTOLA MANAGING EDITOR ALLY LANASA WEB EDITOR MICHAELA FATH COPY CHIEF LIZ HARPER ASSISTANT COPY CHIEF AVERY KREEMER ASSOCIATE EDITORS ELEANOR BISHOP, GRACE DEARING, HALEY RISCHAR, LILLI SHER COPY EDITORS SHANE BRADSHAW, DARYL DAVIDSON, ELENA GOLUBOVICH WRITERS RACHAEL BEARDSLEY, RYAN FLYNN, ANNIE GOINS DIRECTOR OF MEMBER RELATIONS CORINNE RIVERS PUBLISHER ABIGAIL MULLIGAN

CREATIVE DIRECTOR JESSICA KOYNOCK ART DIRECTORS JYLIAN HERRING & MADDIE SCHROEDER DESIGNERS KALEIGH BOWEN, HALEIGH CONTINO, JESSICA COORS,

LAINEY DOUGLAS, KAITLIN HENEGHAN, MADDIE KNOSTMAN, ASHLEY LAFLIN, MORGAN MEYER, SAMANTHA MUSLOVSKI, ABBY SUMMERS, MEGAN SYER, MAGGIE WATROS PHOTO EDITOR MAX CATALANO ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR KISHA RAVI PHOTOGRAPHERS GARRETT MCCAFFERTY, BAXTER TURAIN MARKETING DIRECTOR KENDALL SCHMUCKER SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATORS ASHLEY LAFLIN & NATALIE MATESTIC

Want to advertise Interested in in Backdrop? working with us?

Send an email to backdropadvertising@gmail.com to get started.

Stop by one of our weekly meetings at 8 p.m. Tuesdays in Schoonover 380.

SEE "STRENGTH

THROUGH DISCIPLINE" PAGE 30

Kalen Patterson uses a torch to burn the wood on his new cabinets. His favorite design styles are industrial and steampunk. Photo by Max Catalano.

backdrop | Spring 2019

CONTENTS FEATURES PRESERVING A LEGACY

Mount Zion Baptist Church's closing marks a significant era in Athens’ black history, and community members are working to preserve its history. . . . . . . . 22

CENTERED ON THE ARTS

Nelsonville opera house encourages artistic expression and growth through community programs and events.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Q&A

CALENDAR

Organization seeks to spread optimism and increase environmental awareness. . . . . . . . . . . 6

Don’t miss all the events happening around Athens this spring. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

DON'T WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW

THE DROP

THE TRUE COST OF SAVINGS

A 2015 statewide initiative implements preferred supplier system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

DISMANTLING AN ATOMIC HISTORY The Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant is undergoing demolition and restoration. . . . . . . 10

SCIENCE

19 WAYS

Fill your spring season with volunteering and assisting the Athens community. . . . . . . . . . . . 36

SEX & HEALTH

SOUNDS OF MEDITATION

Meditation and sound healing instructor Emilie Walker shares her journey and emphasizes the importance of self-compassion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

A CHANCE FOR RECOVERY

KEEPING LAND UNFRACTURED

Former Hocking Correctional Facility will now be used as a recovery center to help combat the area’s opioid epidemic.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

REPURPOSING POLLUTION

ENTERTAINMENT

A local antifracking movement has its roots at Village Bakery & Café. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Acid mine drainage treatment procedure turns pollution into paint pigment. . . . . . . . . . 16

RECIPE

BITES AND PIECES

Backdrop explores the extensive versatility of cauliflower with these original recipes.. . . . . 18 Cover illustration by Jessica Koynock.

ON THE BRICKS

INFOGRAPHIC

BEADS INTERNATIONAL

See how Athens’ own Beads & Things imports materials from around the world for customers’ creative use. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

PHOTO STORY

STRENGTH THROUGH DISCIPLINE

Afghanistan veteran Kalen Patterson finds peace and purpose through hobbies.. . . . . 30

SPRING 2019 » VOLUME 12 ISSUE 3

ACCORDING TO DAN

Business owner who has worked in Athens for over 32 years holds esteemed reputation as guitar repairman.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

HISTORY

SHE'S GOT GRIT First female operating engineer in the state of Ohio reflects on her early career and most defining experiences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

EXHIBIT A Student showcases photography of local

concerts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

PHOTO HUNT Spot the five differences between these photos

taken on Court Street. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

www.backdropmagazine.com

Q&A

DON’T WAIT UNTIL

TOMORROW WHILE IT’S STILL TODAY An OU alumna shares optimism through an environmental protection organization. BY SAMANTHA GOOD PHOTOS PROVIDED BY KATELYN VANCOUVER

hio University alumna Katelyn Vancouver left her ecological footprint on Athens with the phrase, “It’s still today.” The phrase inspired her organization, It’s Still Today, which serves to promote conscious consumerism throughout the Athens community. Her work to improve Athens by spreading a positive message has influenced the way people think, the way they shop and what motivates

them to persevere. Her organization spreads the message through orginially designed merchandise. Although Vancouver no longer lives in Athens, her mother, Laurie Vancouver, runs the organization from Athens and sells shirts with her daughter’s message on them. Anyone can purchase a piece of It’s Still Today’s merchandise at the Athens Farmers Market. b

WHEN WAS YOUR ORGANIZATION STARTED? It’s Still Today started in 2014, when I was working as a photographer for a rafting company. A friend was complaining about her work day and in an effort to redirect attention toward the positive outlook of the evening I reminded her that, “It’s still today!” Immediately, the group we were with latched on to it and insisted I make stickers with the phrase.

HOW HAS IT GROWN SINCE ITS START? For the first year or so of its existence, It’s Still Today was just the hundreds of stickers I handed out to friends and stuck on telephone poles and bathroom stalls. Despite encouragement from friends back at OU, I didn’t start printing shirts until I decided it would be a great way to fundraise for my hike of the Appalachian Trail. At that point, my friend agreed to create a design for me and actually spearheaded the relationship It’s Still Today had with Paper Circle in Nelsonville, a nonprofit organization that prints shirts for a lot of local festivals. Paper Circle taught us how to print the shirts ourselves and later encouraged me to adopt the entire process myself. We now not only create our own designs and print our own shirts, but also burn and maintain our own screens. Katelyn Vancouver in one of her shirts.

backdrop | Spring 2019

ON YOUR WEBSITE YOU MENTION WANTING TO SHIFT CONSUMERISM TO BE MORE SERVICE-MINDED AND SUSTAINABLE. WHAT SORT OF PRODUCTS SHOULD PEOPLE SWITCH OUT SO THEY CAN BETTER HELP THE ENVIRONMENT? [It’s Still Today] pushes to encourage more conscious consumerism: reduce—think about whether or not you really need something; reuse—buy used things or only buy goods that will last; and recycle— if you can’t avoid a purchase and it cannot be reused, recycle it. If there is something you want to purchase that doesn’t fit this cycle, reconsider. Conscious consumption requires some time and research and can vary between lifestyles. For example, I avoid plastic all together. I keep my glass and use it to buy bulk food and reduce packaging, but not everyone has great access to bulk food sources. If that’s the case, I try to purchase food in paper boxes because they can be recycled or composted in a way that doesn’t emit as many greenhouse gases as plastic containers.

WHAT ORGANIZATIONS DO YOU DONATE TO AND HOW DO YOU CHOOSE THEM?

A graphic from one of Vancouver’s t-shirts.

Due to my being across the country and going through a lot of changes, I haven’t done a great job publicizing the relationships we established with Rural Action, Upgrade Ohio and the Athens Conservancy. I personally met and talked with representatives from all three of these organizations and told them that I wanted to give them each 10% of the profits It’s Still Today earns this year [2018]. This is another part of our effort to make a more powerful statement about the possibilities of conscious consumerism: look beyond the surface of the businesses you support. Where do they get their materials, and where does their profit go? For It’s Still Today, we are supporting Rural Action’s environmental education programs, Upgrade Ohio’s

public transportation project and the Athens Conservancy’s work to protect natural spaces. I chose these organizations firstly because they were local, and I am a big believer in the small efforts. I believe that environmental education helps young people build a healthy sense of ownership of their environment, that public transportation can make a huge impact on emissions and that maintaining healthy natural spaces increases the health of the Earth and everyone on it. This next year, I am hoping to keep local profits local [and have] our Athens profits go to Athens nonprofits… profits I make here on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington will go to nonprofits within the Seattle/ Olympic Peninsula region.

LAST OF ALL, WHAT DOES THE PHRASE ‘IT’S STILL TODAY’ MEAN TO YOU? ‘It’s still today’ means whatever it needs to. That’s one of the beautiful things about it. I have appreciated the variety of interpretations that I have heard [over] the years. For some, it is a puzzle to solve (“When will it not still be today?”). For others, it is a mantra to get through a project, day or week. For me, it’s motivation to get things done. It says, “There is still time in the day. If you’re going to do a thing you might as well do it now and do it well.” Vancouver poses next to some of the shirts It’s Still Today has created.

www.backdropmagazine.com

THE DROP

The True Cost of

$AVINGS

How a state-mandated policy intended to save money impacts an impoverished region of Ohio.

BY LILLI SHER | PHOTOS BY JESSICA KOYNOCK | GRAPHIC BY LAINEY DOUGLAS

“

ll Shook Up” blared from the ballroom in Baker Center as an Elvis impersonator and the Ohio University mascot Rufus the Bobcat sauntered around the perimeter and posed for photos. A variety of food, from popcorn to make-your-own snow cones, and swag bags festooned the various tables. It was a warm day in early October, and the university’s first preferred supplier fair was in full swing. The event showcased the preferred suppliers that the university uses. Many of the represented companies were from large corporations, such as Office Depot, Pearson and Staples. In August, the Staples in Athens closed due to lack of business; it did not become a preferred supplier until June. In 2015, Governor John Kasich established the Affordability and Efficiency Task Force, a mandatory initiative that requires all public universities in Ohio to purchase goods only from specifically contracted suppliers. The long-term goal of the preferred supplier policy is to save money in order to eventually lower tuition, thus making higher education more accessible for college students across the state. The policy aims to increase efficiency and decrease overall costs for the institution via negotiations with preferred suppliers, OU Vice President of Finance Deb Shaffer says. If all universities across the state follow the policy, they can collectively negotiate a much bigger discount and decrease costs – including tuition – for the institutions. Athens County is the poorest county in the state of Ohio, and according to census data, the median income in the county is $37,191. Devastated by the now-defunct coal industry, many people in the county are trapped in the vicious cycle of poverty. OU both alleviates and exacerbates the economic strain on southeastern Ohio. The preferred supplier policy can harm local businesses when services from non-local businesses are preferrenced. Encouraging Diversity, Growth and Equity [EDGE] is a state-sponsored program that encourages economic growth in distressed regions such as Appalachia, says Mary Nally, the director of OU’s Center for Campus and Community Engagement. The EDGE program has pushed OU to consider local businesses when it opens the applications to become a preferred vendor, Nally says. “Currently, OU has set a minimum of five percent … of

backdrop | Spring 2019

bidders have to be from this EDGE-designated list of vendors,” Nally says. “In reality, the number of those bids is closer to 15 percent, so they do get a fair amount of local bids. That doesn’t necessarily tell us if those are the bids that get chosen, it just means that they’re included in the pool of options.” Currently, OU as an institution has different definitions for what is considered to be a local product. The definitions are currently being reworked by the university. Food and non-food items must be grown, processed or manufactured within a 250-mile radius of campus. Food can also be considered local if it is grown in the state of Ohio. Such standards do not necessarily aid the economy of southeastern Ohio because of the wide-reaching parameters. The university tries to ensure that local businesses have the opportunity to apply to be a preferred vendor, Shaffer says. “For example, if we wanted Casa [Nueva Restaurant] to be able to bid on something, we would send [a message] and say ‘Hey, we’re inviting you to bid on this,’” Shaffer explains. “We also help some of our local vendors through some of the state bureaucracy and different levels of state compliance … not all of them have the same level of online presence that makes that easy.” Sometimes local vendors have an advantage in becoming preferred vendors because of their proximity to the university, Shaffer says. Lower costs of shipping and cost savings from operation efficiency can benefit the institution. “The other thing we can do with a number of our commodities is do multiple awards to the extent that as long as our local vendors can be competitive in their pricing,” Shaffer says. “Then we can award multiple contracts so we have multiple preferred suppliers so that our local vendors are one of those amongst sometimes national or international vendors as well.” The process to become a preferred supplier is competitive. Interested businesses have to file a request for proposal (RFP) and go through an extensive interview process. In addition, the RFPs are only open every few years. A few local businesses, like Tim Martin’s Red Tail Design, had tables set up at the preferred supplier fair. Martin, an OU graduate from the College of Fine Arts, gave away OU themed postcards and wooden keychains emblazoned with the university’s logo at his company’s booth. Red Tail designs websites and does course development and videography for the university.

“It’s kind of a sticky situation,” Martin says. “There’s definitely some local businesses that may have to let someone go because of how [OU is] changing the structuring of things. When that RFP is closed for another three or four years... that’s a huge life cycle in a business. The way things are being tightened on the university only being allowed to use certain preferred providers is definitely hurting [local businesses].” Career Connections, a temping agency on East State Street, had to lay off four full-time employees when they lost their contract to deliver staffing services to OU, says Kristi Kinnard, the operations manager of Career Connections. “It was a significant loss, not just because it was a substantial amount of our business, but because our team here really liked working with the university,” Kinnard says. “Some of the departments and contacts that we worked with were people we worked with for 30 years.” While she understands the need for the policy, Kinnard says those on the selection committee should be better educated on the local economy, rather than looking simply at cost benefit. “There is such a benefit to the local economy rather than [using] a business based out of Texas,” she says. “The four staff that we laid off were all OU alumni, they had kids at the Childhood Development Center, they had Wellworks passes, they bought houses here. I don’t think anyone understands what it means to the economy and what it means to the university, because it’s not tangible evidence in front of their face. It’s a sad thing, but I do understand it. We make vendor selections all the time as a small business, and we have to make choices, but the local providers are always at the top of our list when we pick.” Kinnard says the loss of the preferred vendor contract was a “devastating blow and a huge loss” to Career Connections. The presence of the university largely impacts the economy of Athens County. Many Athens businesses have

found success on Court Street, which boasts an array of restaurants, boutiques and other local gems. However, without the presence of students, uptown Athens would likely be marred with vacant storefronts, says Michelle Oestrike, the president of the Athens Chamber of Commerce. “Things are just busier when there’s 20,000 more people in town,” she says. “The students really help the businesses in Athens: they eat uptown, they drink uptown.” Because of that relationship, local businesses cater to the desires of students and those affiliated with the university. Dawn Worley Sims, the director of operations for the Athens Chamber of Commerce, says the preferred supplier policy has frustrated businesses that “just want a little bit back towards them.” “Some of the businesses feel that they support the university by supporting the projects when the fraternities and sororities come to them,” Sims says. When the university allows for outside companies to buy books at the end of the semester, rather than encouraging students to sell their books back to local bookstores, local businesses do not feel supported by the university. Because local businesses often lack the infrastructure of larger, national corporations, they often cannot provide the scope of services needed by the university, Shaffer says. “We have to be careful to maintain a consistent and conflictfree process so we aren’t giving any additional information to local vendors that is inconsistent with what anybody else would be provided,” Shaffer says. “We probably can’t do as much individual hand-holding as we would otherwise like to do and still remain in compliance with state and federal requirements.” Many businesses do not want to speak out against the university because it is the largest employer in the region, Martin says. “It’s tricky since we all still do business there,” he says. “We don’t want to hurt what we have.” b

LOCAL PREFERRED VENDORS RED TAIL DESIGN CO. STAPLES Staples on E State Street went out of business prior to becoming a preferred vendor of Ohio University.

CAREER CONNECTIONS E State St.

Cour t St.

HOCKING RIV ER

Stimson Ave

AMBASSADOR LAUNDRIES R ichlan d Av e.

OU INN

COLLEGE BOOKSTORE www.backdropmagazine.com

THE DROP

DISMANTLING AN

AT MIC HISTORY Fifty years after the Cold War, the U.S. Department of Energy is working to clean up a large power plant in southeastern Ohio. BY ANNIE GOINS | PHOTO PROVIDED BY JACK WILLIAMS | ILLUSTRATIONS BY ABBY SUMMERS

n Aug. 12, 1952, the U.S. government announced that it would be building a new $2 billion gaseous diffusion facility in Pike County, Ohio, about an hour and a half west of Athens. From 1954 to 2001, the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant was an integral part of the Cold War and the country’s atomic energy industry. Gaseous diffusion was a way to separate different isotopes of uranium to make atomic weapons. In its natural form, uranium is found as an ore that is made up of 99 percent U-238. The last one percent is made of U-235, which is the more stable isotope needed to make nuclear weapons and energy.

The Department of Energy is in the process of tearing down the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant which is a delicate process given the chemicals and radioactive elements present on the site.

backdrop | Spring 2019

In order to get to that isotope, the ore needs to be heated and formed into a gas, where U-235 can be extracted for use, says Rick Greene, senior communications manager for RSI-Entech, a support contractor for the Department of Energy. For 45 years, the three buildings on the 3,700-acre reservation in Piketon served the government in fighting the Cold War and providing nuclear energy. Two coal power plants fueled the facility, which used more energy than the entire city of Columbus uses today. The facility provided much-needed jobs to Portsmouth and the surrounding region, which was in decline prior to the construction of the facility. “So, back in early 2000, the facility stopped operating, and then for a period of about a decade it was in what they call ‘cold standby,’ which meant the federal government said ‘You know, we might have a need sometime later for enrichment of uranium so we’re not gonna tear these buildings down, we’re gonna keep them as a kind of backstop, in case we need it,’” says Jason Sherman, an attorney with the Portsmouth-Paducah Project Office. After the plant was in cold standby, the Department of Energy decided that it would be torn down. Enrichment wasn’t as cost effective as it used to be, especially with the 1950s technology still in the facility and its required energy consumption. But the decision created a new host of issues as demolishing a facility that once enriched uranium can be a dangerous and complex process. Uranium is a highly radioactive element and leaves a lasting impact on everything from machinery to the surrounding environment. The process of tearing down a nuclear plant can take years, and it requires careful disposal of hazardous materials in a process known as deactivation and decommissioning, also known as D&D. “What that means is deactivation, the first D, is

you sort of take out all the real hazards that are in those buildings,” says Sherman. “All the pent-up nuclear material, all the hazardous wastes, things that you don’t wanna just let sit.” The three main buildings that housed the converters for the diffusion contain an abundance of hazardous material that needs to be discarded. The buildings are huge; each one is approximately 33 acres and two floors. Missing even one foot of material could be disastrous and bring the facility to criticality, which could set off a dangerous chain reaction. “So we go into the facilities, and we’ll end up doing what’s called non-destructive assay,” says Jeff Stevens, site deputy director for Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth. “What that is, we have instrumentation that we use that we check foot by foot to check all the piping, valves, the elbows and then the large components that are in the building.” Because the buildings are over 60 years old, they have to have asbestos removed before demolition. The site also has to be cleaned of its environmental impact and the centrifuges in the facility must be demobilized. The project is expensive and funds come from American taxpayers’ money. Approximately $300 million per year is dedicated to the D&D of the Portsmouth site, with the continued cleanup expected to take at least 30 years more. However, the site is still providing much-needed jobs to the region, with employees from 38 counties across Ohio and Kentucky coming to work on the D&D project, according to a document given to the public at an open house in Chillicothe in November 2018. High-tech robotics are also being used to help ensure worker safety and gain more accurate readings on uranium levels, as well as to dismantle the large “000” converters. “We’ve actually gone to some robotic techniques where we can send it down to the inside of the pipe, rather than measuring it from the outside and that’s a bit more accurate, and helps us find it,” says Stevens. “We’re trying a few different techniques.”

The plant has also had a massive effect on the surrounding environment, but the Department of Energy has worked carefully to make the site safe for reuse, which includes the cleanup of groundwater plumes and the construction of an on-site waste disposal facility, where approximately 1.4 million cubic yards of radioactive and chemically dangerous materials will be buried and monitored. The on-site waste disposal facility is 100 acres in size and sits in the northeastern section of the reservation. It was constructed according to strict environmental laws monitored by Ohio’s Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy’s standards. The priority behind the strict standards is making the land safe for reuse and safe for human health. “So because this material has what we refer to as low-level radioactive impact, because uranium gas was running through all these buildings for 50 years, you have to be very careful with that waste because it’s always hazardous for tens of thousands of years,” says Sherman. “So this facility is designed to have … just a lot of protection.” The Department of Energy will be on the site for years to come, working to ensure the safety of the surrounding community. They will monitor the on-site waste disposal facility to make sure that nothing leaks out or collapses. The Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant was integral to the mission of the U.S. during the Cold War, producing uranium vital for nuclear weapons. Now, the Department of Energy is working hard to pay back the community that the plant affected for many years. “This facility was critical to all of that, so now the Department of Energy has an obligation to everyone in America to clean up the environmental impacts from that,” says Sherman. While the project is still far from over, the plant will be an important part of southeastern Ohio for years as cleanup efforts continue to make the land suitable for the community once again. b www.backdropmagazine.com

SCIENCE

Fracking flyers are posted on a cork board in Village Bakery & Café.

The front entrance of Village Bakery & Café on East State Street.

backdrop | Spring 2019

KEEPING LAND

UNFRACTURED

BY RYAN FLYNN | PHOTOS BY MADDIE SCHROEDER

Environmental advocacy takes root among landowners of Athens.

corkboard hangs on the wall of Village Bakery across from the cash register. Customers come and go, their personal thoughts, feelings and opinions all their own. Yet the corkboard remains a stationary venue for those customers to voice their concerns. Plastered with flyers, pins, stickers and noncontextual quotes and one-liners, the corkboard clearly displays thoughts and opinions Athens locals have — and it seems fracking is on the mind. Hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, is a fossil fuel extraction process that uses extremely high-pressured jets of fluid to smash open holes in rock located miles beneath the earth’s surface. The fluid is a mixture of water, sand and chemicals. After it is shot into the earth, the mixture is pumped back out. Now, a hazardous byproduct called “wastewater,” along with natural gas and oil, is free to escape from the exposed pores in the rock. In recent years, Athens has become a confluence of wastewater injection wells, meaning the unsafe material is being pumped into the ground in different sites across the county. Also, interest in the potential for fracking in the area has increased. Simultaneously, Village Bakery has become a gathering place for anti-fracking activists. “Rather than anything else, I wanted it to belong to the community,” says Christine Hughes, owner of Village Bakery. “People kind of seemed like they were waiting for something like that in this neighborhood.” The bakery promotes sustainability by utilizing solar energy, using local, organic ingredients and discouraging waste production through the use of compostable containers. Those practices have brought in customers with similar interests. At first, Hughes says, her customer base consisted of food-conscious Athens locals. It wasn’t until about 2010, when landmen from West Virginia-based Cunningham Energy, LLC, began showing up in town, that her customers brought fracking to the discussion board. The landmen were carrying out Cunningham Energy’s self-proclaimed, “aggressive” growth plans by leasing the mineral rights of about 40,000 acres of land in Athens. Companies leased land before they knew what to do with it, partly because there was more money in the potential of finding natural gas and oil than in the fuels themselves. Reselling land leases is how large companies such as Chesapeake Energy made billions. Cunningham Energy was looking to cash in on the fracking hype, and they chose Athens as a test site. Parts of eastern Ohio rest on the Utica and Marcellus shales, which are gigantic layers of rock beneath the Earth’s surface, rich in natural gas and spanning northern Appalachia.

Cunningham Energy hoped Athens’ proximity to those lucrative extents of land would create an opportunity for fracking in the county. However, Athens sits on the outer edge of the shales, outside of the hottest fracking zones. Yet, Cunningham Energy still leveraged lease sales. A 2012 Athens News article states the landmen offered $2,500 per acre to landowners when they arrived. The offers were lowered to $125 per acre after a study done by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) speculated the Marcellus and Utica shales are too thin in Athens to make drilling worthwhile. When the landmen came to Athens in 2010 and 2011, the company held events at the Ohio University Inn and the Dairy Barn Arts Center, inviting landowners to come and sell areas of their land. Hughes and other concerned locals visited the events to witness the signings firsthand. She says the landmen convinced landowners to sign leases they didn’t fully understand. “A lot of landowners were getting contacted by these landmen, and they didn’t know a reason why not to sign up,” Hughes says. Smiles Welch, a friend of Hughes, attended the first signing event at the OU Inn with a recorder to document the transactions. Hughes says Welch was quickly escorted out and was threatened after telling the landmen he was recording. Back at Village Bakery, the conversation shifted from one of concern to one of action. “They basically put you in a cubicle by yourself... and they pretty much lead you into signing an agreement right then and there,” Hughes says. Hughes says people were upset. She held meetings in another one of her businesses, Catalyst Cafe, over growing discomfort with what was happening in the community. The potential risks of fracking, such as pollution of groundwater, air and soil, were discussed. Word of the leases spread to friends and other community members, tension grew and neighbors began to argue. “We did not ask for this, [for] fracking to come into our community,” Hughes says. “... It was just so frustrating and painful to be fighting with people that we love.” Such frustration led Hughes and another Athens activist, Nancy Pierce, to develop First Stop Leasing, an organization that came together to provide landowners with more information before meeting with the landmen. To do so, they took out ads in the paper and printed signs at Kinkos to create a presence. On the day of the second lease-signing event, Cunningham Energy rented out the second floor of the Dairy Barn Arts Center. First Stop Leasing rented out the first floor. As landowners came in to meet with the landmen, they had www.backdropmagazine.com

SCIENCE to walk past First Stop Leasing, who informed them all about what they were getting into. It was literally a “first stop.” “After a half a day of this, one of the landmen came storming downstairs and said, ‘Something’s not right, because we’re not getting anybody signing up our leases!’” Hughes says. “So, we were able to educate people in the community.” First Stop Leasing offered knowledge that many landowners approached by landmen don’t have. Paul Feezel, a landowner and activist from Carroll County would have appreciated a First Stop Leasing of his own when the fracking boom hit his town. Roughly 100 miles north of Athens, Carroll County resides in the heartland of active fracking in Ohio. From about 2009 to 2010, exploration wells to test for natural gas were drilled there. Feezel says that by 2011, half a dozen landmen were at his door every week. “The first one that came to us ... they offered us $50 an acre,” Feezel says. By the time the boom ended, the figures were more in the range of $5,000 to $6,000 per acre. Feezel held out for the best deal possible, and now he has continuous tests done to the air, water and soil in and around his land to monitor pollution. Although he was skeptical from the beginning, he says others in his community were not so prudent. “... People that aren’t used to that or are either not Fracking flyers are posted on a cork board in Village Bakery & Café.

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willing or able to take the time to go do the research, it’s hard [for them],” Feezel says. “What if somebody came to you and said, ‘I’m willing to buy your house, right now, today, I’ve got a check in my hand.’ And they just give a number, and you don’t know what it’s worth. And they say we’ll give you $100,000 right now, just sign that paper.” Heather Cantino, a frequenter of Village Bakery, is an activist and member of the Athens County Fracking Action Network (ACFAN). She was involved in the First Stop Leasing protest. Prior to becoming a full-time activist, she worked within the Buckeye Forest Council, now the Buckeye Environmental Network (BEN), where she helped work on forest issues. Now, Cantino and ACFAN are fighting land leasing taking place in Ohio’s Wayne National Forest in Washington and Monroe counties. If carried out, the leasing will allow natural gas companies to use fracking on federal land that is meant to be allocated as a preserve for its immense biodiversity. According to the Forest Service, the national forest was not always the sizable collection of native trees it is today. Between 1850 and 1920, mining, farming and timber trade stripped bare much of the land that makes up the national forest. By the 1930s, those industries had used up the resources and abandoned much of the land in southern Ohio. In 1934, the Ohio State Legislature approved a bill that allowed for the federal government to purchase the once proud forests that were no longer being cultivated. Those areas of land became what is now the national forest and, through the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps, the land was reforested. Now, the national forest faces leasing of its preserved land by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Wendy Park, an attorney fighting to prevent fracking in Wayne National Forest, says the leasing is a huge contradiction to the forest’s intended purposes. According to the Sierra Club, the BLM started leasing land in the national forest for fracking in 2016, after issuing an environmental assessment that found no significant impact of oil and gas drilling in Marietta, Ohio. That was five years after leasing had originally been proposed in the national forest, but it was not pursued due to strong oppositional lobbying by groups such as the Sierra Club, ACFAN and BEN. In May 2017, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), a worldwide nonprofit aimed at protecting endangered wildlife through legal action and grassroots activism, filed a lawsuit against

Details of the interior of Village Bakery.

the U.S. Forest Service to challenge the lease auctions in Wayne National Forest. The Forest Service is the operating entity in charge of the national forest, which ultimately allowed the BLM to begin auctioning its land. Park, the lead attorney in the lawsuit, says the CBD has been closely following the leases since its inception in 2011. Specifically, the CBD has brought claims against the Forest Service under the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act and the 1973 Endangered Species Act. According to Park, the national forest provides habitat for endangered species such as the Indiana bat, the northern long-eared bat and the tri-colored bat. The extremely biodiverse hardwood forest is also public land. According to Ballotpedia, a nonprofit political encyclopedia, only 1.14 percent of Ohio’s land is federally owned. “These lands should actually be preserved for the public to enjoy and recreate,” Park says. Through her research for the suit, she has found that many people opposed to fracking consider Wayne National Forest a peaceful refuge that would be ruined by the commotion of fracking. Also, the forest is located near currents that eventually funnel into the Ohio River, Park says. The CBD is concerned about potential chemical leakage that could end up in the river and about the many potential opportunities for fracking wastewater spills. Fracking in Ohio has not had an accident-free history. On June 28, 2014, a fire broke out at a fracking gas well in Clarington, Ohio, 60 miles northeast of Athens in Monroe County. The Eisenbarth well-pod, owned by the Norwegian company Equinor (previously named Statoil), caught fire when flammable liquid leaking from a ruptured hydraulic hose

ignited on a hot surface. The fire quickly spread across the well pad, a frightening proposition considering the abundance of chemicals and explosive materials on-site. Firefighters quickly worked to limit the fire’s spread, using about 300,000 gallons of water to maintain a curtain around its blaze. The water ran off into the nearby stream, a tributary of Opossum Creek, which runs throughout southeastern Ohio and then eventually into the Ohio River. The ODNR Division of Wildlife estimated that harsh chemicals in the runoff from the well pad killed 70,000 fish in a 5-mile stretch of the creek. The fire in Clarington is just one example of how fracking can lead to environmental disaster. Currently, Park’s legal battle is filed in the Federal District Court in Columbus. A decision is expected to be made on whether the leasing in Wayne National Forest can continue by the end of 2019. The Forest Service has implemented a new plan, which creates an opportunity to update the review process from 2006, which found no substantial increased impact from fracking in comparison to traditional oil extraction methods. As for the patrons of Village Bakery, they continue to fight in Athens, with their attention focused to Wayne National Forest. Hughes, Cantino and others fall into a small crowd working to fight for environmental protection. “All these people … became activists because they were directly affected,” Hughes says. Some of them have been activists for years. For others, fracking coming to their community was the push they needed to start calling themselves ‘activists.’ For Hughes, it was something that needed to be done. “I wasn’t a full-time activist [before fracking], but I guess I am now.” b www.backdropmagazine.com

SCIENCE

REPURPOSING

POLLUTION

Artist and environmentalist John Sabraw turns acid mine drainage into paint pigment, creating what he calls "toxic art."

With the help of Rural Action, local activists are turning toxic acid mine drainage into paint. BY RACHAEL BEARDSLEY | PHOTOS PROVIDED BY JOHN SABRAW

ithin the forests of rural Appalachia, the creeks flow a neon orange. The colored water is a sign of poison—seepage from old coal mines that ruins water quality and drives out wildlife. But now, thanks to an engineer, an artist and local nonprofit Rural Action, Appalachia’s orange plague is being turned into a tool to create real beauty. The Corning Paint Pigment Pilot Project, recently constructed in the village of Corning, about half an hour north of Athens, is just the first step in a new form of acid mine drainage treatment that creates paint pigment from the pollution and returns clean water to the streams. The plan is to use the profits from the paint pigments to fund further cleaning efforts. “This technology has kind of turned our view of treatment upside down because in traditional acid mine drainage treatment, the iron that is pulled out of the water is really considered a waste product,” says Michelle Shively, Sunday Creek Watershed coordinator for Rural Action and co-creator of the project. “Now, with this technology, it’s a product, it’s a commodity, it’s something that has value. It can actually be used to pay for more reclamation and more treatment.” Acid mine drainage is the resulting runoff from a chemical reaction between water and sulfur-bearing minerals such as pyrite. Past coal mining activities exposed rocks that contain pyrite, which then react with air and water to form sulfuric acid and dissolved iron. When the iron precipitates, it becomes the orange

backdrop | Spring 2019

matter associated with acid mine drainage. Because coal mines were designed to avoid water accumulation, the polluted water drains out of the mines and into the streams, disrupting the life cycle of plants and animals, corroding bridges and contaminating drinking water. Dr. Guy Riefler, the civil engineering professor behind the project, says he’s been working on the area’s acid mine drainage problem since he moved to Athens 20 years ago. He was inspired to create the treatment process by others who had already produced paint pigment from acid mine drainage, though past projects never attempted reclamation. “My contribution is really the water treatment side— catching acid mine drainage as it exits the mine and treating it immediately to produce clean water and iron sludge for processing and sale,” he says. “I was driven in this direction because of two horrendous seeps on Sunday Creek very close to OU that had no good options for treatment. The whole process was developed to treat those sites, though now it could be used at hundreds of other sites also.” At the facility in Corning, polluted water is taken into the plant, where the acid in the water is neutralized. The iron oxide then separates from the water, collecting at the bottom of the holding container. Next, the clean water is returned to the stream, and the iron oxide is dried and ground into pigment. The Corning facility is not focused on the impact on water quality but is simply testing the process for future implementation. Shively says the test facility only grabs a small amount

A stream in Sulfur Springs Hollow is ridden with suspended iron oxide and acid mine drainage.

of the discharge, not enough to make a difference in the stream. At full scale, however, she says they would be grabbing all of the discharge and treating all of the water. “The sites that we’re looking at treating, primarily the issues are the [acidity] and the iron, so we’ll be solving both of those problems and putting clean water back into the streams,” she says. “Our goal is to have 90 to 95 percent of the iron removed from the water.” The plan, Shively says, is to build the full scale facility in Truetown, Ohio, around the halfway point between Corning and Athens. Truetown and Corning have similar water flow rates, but Truetown has 10 times the iron. Therefore, Shively says, it is the best place for a full scale business because it can make the most product. Corning may be a possible place to return to as an expansion site, she adds. John Sabraw, an art professor at Ohio University and the third co-creator of the project, negotiated a deal to sell the product through Gamblin Artists’ Colors, a company based in Portland, Oregon, that is known for supporting sustainable art. Although the paint isn’t being sold yet, Gamblin made 500 tubes that were donated to those who helped finance the project as well as the local community and schools. For full scale production, Riefler says they will be looking for a larger, local buyer who will be able to buy the high amount of pigment they produce. Much of the pigment will also go toward avenues other than artistgrade work, such as colored concrete and house paint. “Artist paint is kind of a specialty market and the rest is being sold as a commodity,” Shively says. The range of colors produced from the iron oxide includes reds, oranges, browns, yellows and one hue called “Reclaimed Earth Violet.” Sabraw has already begun to work with the pigment, creating striking and colorful circular artwork that he says on his website illustrates “the sublimity of nature but also the fragility of our relationship with it.” “Everything is intertwined,” Sabraw says on his website. “The streams these pigments come from connect to other streams, rivers and eventually the ocean. This might seem a local issue but it is not—it is a global issue.” Local impact, however, is still strong. Although the test facility is taking up recreational space in the Corning city park, Shively says residents don’t mind. They’re willing to give up some public space in the park, she says, if it means their kids can play in the streams again. “Community reaction has been very positive,” says Larry Monson, owner of Corning’s My Little Bakery, which closed late December 2018. “Anything positive in Corning is a good thing; anything new in Corning is a good thing.” Shively emphasizes how the impact of the treatment goes far beyond creating a commodity from the pollution. “This project really epitomizes the view of cleaning up that legacy of abandoned coal mining that has plagued our region for a long time,” she says. “ … The goal was never paint, the goal was to clean up the streams.” b www.backdropmagazine.com

RECIPE

BITES AND

PIECES

Check out Backdropâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s healthy alternatives to classic bites. RECIPES AND PHOTOS BY JESSICA KOYNOCK

Cauliflower is a versatile vegetable that is low in saturated fat and high in protein and fiber. Grab some fresh cauliflower, plenty of spices and head to the kitchen to start creating. The possibilities are endless. b

VEGETARIAN CAULIFLOWER WINGS PREP TIME: 15 MINUTES | COOK TIME: 20 MINUTES INGREDIENTS:

One head of cauliflower 1 cup crispy bread crumbs 1/2 cup flour 1/2 cup soy sauce 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder Salt and pepper, to taste Chopped scallions (for garnish)

SAUCE:

4 tablespoons maple syrup 1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger

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DIRECTIONS: 1 Preheat oven to 450 F degrees. Line pan with aluminum foil. 2 Cut cauliflower florets from stem into wing size bites. 3 Place bread crumbs in a medium sized bowl. In separate bowl, whisk 4 5 6 7

together remaining wing ingredients to make batter.

Toss the cauliflower bites in batter. Shake off excess batter and coat completely with breadcrumbs. Bake for 20 minutes. Whisk sauce ingredients together in small bowl. Remove from oven and brush sesame sauce on wing bites. Enjoy!

To make this a vegan recipe, purchase vegan bread crumbs.

WHOLE ROASTED CAULIFLOWER PREP TIME: 10 MINUTES | COOK TIME: 25 MINUTES INGREDIENTS:

One head of cauliflower 2 tablespoons olive oil Salt and pepper, to taste 1/2 cup crumbled feta 1/4 cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped or 1 tablespoon parsley flakes Lemon juice

SEASONINGS: 1 tablespoon smoked paprika 1 teaspoon cumin 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1/2 teaspoon oregano

FOR A LITTLE EXTRA FLAVOR:

TAHINI SAUCE RECIPE INGREDIENTS:

2 tablespoons Tahini 1 1/2 teaspoons maple syrup 1/2 lemon, juiced 1 tablespoon warm water

DIRECTIONS: 1 In small jar, combine ingredients and shake. If necessary, add more water to thin.

Put in small jar for dipping or drizzle over dish.

DIRECTIONS: 1

Trim the leaves from the base of the cauliflower. Cut the stem allowing the cauliflower to stand without support.

2 3

Preheat oven to 375 F degrees.

Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with spice blend and minced garlic. Roast for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Remove from oven and sprinkle with fresh parsley and feta. Drizzle with lemon juice and enjoy!

For some extra flavor try with Tahini Sauce.

In a stock pot large enough to hold the whole cauliflower, bring water to boil. Add a pinch of salt to water for flavor. Boil cauliflower for approximately 10 minutes before gently transferring to an ovensafe dish.

For a vegan alternative, replace feta cheese with almond flakes for more protein.

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INFOGRAPHIC

BEADS INTERNATIONAL BY GRACE DEARING INFOGRAPHIC BY JESSICA KOYNOCK

Local business brings little pieces of the world to Athens.

BEADS & THINGS

8 N SHAFER ST. ATHENS, OH 45701

eads & Things is a staple within the Athens community and is a favorite spot among students and community members alike. The locally owned jewelry shop invites people to gather together to make their own jewelry. Among the brightly colored beads that line the walls of the shop and tables full of exotic pendants is a different origin story — and owners Phil Berry and Jo Merkle have been around the world to experience it for themselves. b

Sunday Closed Mon.–Sat. 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

LOS ANGELES [34.05°N, 118.24°W]

NEW YORK CITY

LA is a large port for bead importers, often seed beads.

[40.71°N, 74.01°W]

MICHIGAN

[44.31°N, 85.60°W]

NORTH CAROLINA

TUSCON

[35.76°N, 79.02°W]

[32.22°N, 110.97°W]

WHY TRAVEL? Merkle and Berry have been traveling the world for decades, but the thrill that a new place gives them is still exhilarating. When traveling, the pair intentionally approaches a foreign place with a non-tourist perspective. Berry says he and Merkle use the Internet to find interesting places where people are selling their products. The first thing they do once they’ve landed in a new city is go to open markets that carry a variety of products, from clothing and food to crafts. A lot of times, either Merkle or Berry will have connections in that place and will know specific markets where exotic beads are made and sold. Other times, they will visit museums and other local spots and see displays of certain beads and products that they like.

backdrop | Spring 2019

NYC is the East Coast’s largest port for bead importers, especially glass beads.

Tuscon, Arizona, is where most of the gemstone beads sold at Beads & Things are purchased. Every year, Merkle and Berry visit a trade show that showcases thousands of vendors from all over the world.

MEXICO

[23.63°N, 102.55°W]

WHERE IN THE WORLD? PERU

BULGARIA

SYRIA

MOROCCO

OLD AFRICA

TURKEY

HAND PAINTED BEADS, OFTEN CERAMIC

PRAYER BEADS OR "MISBAHA," USED IN THE MUSLIM RELIGION "SAND CAST" OR PULVERIZING OLD, DISCARDED GLASS

CERAMIC BEAD

POTTERY BEADS

PRAYER BEADS OR "TESPIH," BONE, USED IN THE MUSLIM RELIGION

THE ORIGIN OF BEADS & THINGS PRE–1990

1990

Jo Merkle watches her mother make beaded moccasins for her Brownie Girl Scout Troop and begins to developer own interest in beads.

Merkle realizes Athens does not have a bead store of its own and opens Beads & Things with Phil Berry in the front room of their apartment.

TOOL TIME

1990-2019

Beads & Things now fills the entire first floor of Merkle and Berry’s apartment with beads, chains, crystals and handmade wooden pieces from all over the world.

ROUND NOSE The cone-shaped head of the pliers are used to bend wire for chain making and wire wrapping.

CHAIN NOSE These pliers are useful for bending thin wire and holding small beads.

CZECH REPUBLIC [49.88°N, 15.47°E]

FLAT NOSE

Most of the beads from the Czech Republic have been handmade by a single family.

The flat, pointed jaws of flat nose pliers make it easy for bracelet makers to bend angles in wire, hold small beads and open and close jump rings.

NEPAL

[28.39°N, 15.47°E]

Often made with Brass, Turquois, Coral and Lapis stone.

THAILAND

[15.87°N, 100.99°E]

A lot of the jade stones sold at Beads & Things originated on the border of Burma in Thailand. Thai sterling silver is shown to the right.

CRIMPING Crimp beads are used on either end of the bracelet to hold the rest of the beads in place. Crimping pliers are used to tightly clamp the bead shut.

TWEEZERS Tweezers can be used to manipulate fine wire, beads and other small materials.

SCISSORS

COST BREAKDOWN

Scissors are also used to cut bracelets to the desired length but are intended for thinner pieces of wire and string.

WIRE CUTTERS

When bought in bulk, the price of beads are reduced.

Prices of smaller beads are often determined by weight.

Larger beads are priced according to rarity and market.

Wire cutters are used to cut wire and chains to the jeweler’s desired length. Different size wire cutters are used depending on the durability of the wire or chain.

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FEATURE

PRESERVING A

LEGACY

The Mount Zion Preservation Society works to restore a church and educate the public on contributions made by Athens’ black community. BY GRACE DEARING | PHOTOS BY BAXTER TURAIN

backdrop | Spring 2019

ver a century ago, Edward C. and Martha “Mattie” Berry donated land and money to establish the current location of Mount Zion Baptist Church at 32 W. Carpenter St. The Berrys, who were well-known bakery and hotel owners in Athens, hoped to expand the small church. Mount Zion quickly became a beloved location for the black community to gather in Athens, but it has since fallen into such a state of neglect that it is no longer functioning. “The black community interacted with all other black churches, whether it’s Baptist, Methodist [or] Presbyterian,” says Ada Woodson Adams, vice president of the Mount Zion Preservation Society. “We helped each other out and supported each other.” Adams grew up in Nelsonville, Ohio, and attended the First Baptist Church there. She also had the opportunity to attend Mount Zion with family

members who lived in Athens. As a girl, Adams made the decision to be baptized at Mount Zion and was later married in the church as well. Adams says the contributions of the black community in Athens have been diminished over the years and are at risk of being erased completely. She uses the example of Berry Hotel, which was owned by Edward and Mattie Berry, and stood in the same spot where Court Street Diner now stands. The hotel was demolished in 1974. Over the past 20 years, Mount Zion’s congregation dwindled. In turn, the building was neglected so much so that it has been rendered unusable. In addition to a rotting roof, which has since been replaced, the deteriorating walls caused water damage and the woodwork around the windows and doors rotted. The basement floor caved in and the entire interior was vandalized.

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FEATURE “The average person doesn’t really feel invested in the buildings and the history that is all around them,” says Ron Luce, treasurer of the preservation society. “I think that at any point along the way, had there been enough interest, groups of people could have come and saved that building before it got into such a terrible state of [disrepair].” Luce refers to American culture as “throw-away culture,” meaning that society has become used to getting rid of things that become run down after use. He believes that this is another reason Mount Zion became so neglected. “You go over to Europe and you see buildings that have been standing there for four, five, six hundred years, and they’re still being used and they still have a purpose and they show the design of an era and give a sense of history all by themselves just by their standing there,” he says. “In this country, we don’t really think that way yet, and we really need to appreciate those things.” Despite all of this, there is something about Mount Zion that is entrancing, which is why Adams and others founded the Mount Zion Preservation Society. The society is dedicated to raising funds and awareness for the church in the hopes of restoring it to its former glory. “There’s something truly remarkable about the interior of the building,” Luce says. “Even though the paint is flaking off and it smells bad because of the mold and mildew and you can’t stay in there very long … there’s something so peaceful, so calming, so serene about sitting in that space.” The Mount Zion Preservation Society was unofficially formed in 2013, without any board members or executive officers, just as a group of people with the common goal of wanting to restore the historic building, Luce says. “I noticed right away ... there wasn’t very much in the way of black history in the [Athens County Historical Society Museum] in my opinion and I felt there needed to be more,” Luce says. “I had the good fortune to meet Ada Woodson Adams and she and I collaborated on the notion that we needed to have a lot more black history because we weren’t telling the whole story of the development of the community.” At the time, the building was a mystery to Adams, Luce, their attorneys and the city. Nobody was sure who owned the building, so there was no clear way to try to take ownership of the site. Eventually, the attorneys were able to find the woman who had unofficially claimed ownership of the building, and Luce submitted a claim with the state for ownership. After three years of battling for ownership, the case was taken to the attorney general’s office. On July 25, 2017, Luce and Adams officially took possession of Mount Zion. Adams was established as vice president, Tom McGuire, one of the original members, as secretary and Luce kept his 2013 role as treasurer. Luce says it was important to the team to establish black leadership for the society and once they did, efforts to restore the building could begin. Since then, the preservation society has received many donations from community groups, including the Charles G. O’Bleness Foundation, the Athens County Foundation, the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio and the Ohio

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University Foundation. Cherri Hendricks, the recently elected president of the Mount Zion Preservation Society, says that the fundraising was slow at the beginning, but she can see progress being made. “[The executive board] actually moved this thing from a place of inertia where there was no movement to where it is now,” Hendricks says. “I think that as people see things are happening there will be more interest and people will be more inclined to donate or volunteer or just come out with their ideas and help us be successful.”

“

We’ll throw in whatever we can on our own and we’ll just keep believing we can make it happen.” RON LUCE PRESERVATION SOCIETY TREASERER In addition to its other historic qualities, Mount Zion serves as a time capsule of the history of the black community in Athens. “This church was built by people who were barely out of slavery,” Hendricks says. “... These are descendants of those people. These are enslaved people who had a hope and a belief and they built something tangible and to see that go into decline or be torn down, like the Berry Hotel uptown, to have our history and our contributions to this area totally removed and mitigated, is not acceptable.” According to Adams, Mount Zion is one of the last monuments of black culture and black history in Athens. It is important to preserve sites such as Mount Zion so that future generations will have something tangible to connect themselves to history. “This is what we’re trying to do: tell the story of the people who were involved in building the church and also in the black community,” Adams says. Although Mount Zion’s significance is deeply rooted in its history, the current state of the church is also integral in representing the black community. In fact, many aspects of the restoration process today mirror that of the initial construction of the building. “We’ll ask people for money, we’ll throw in whatever we can on our own and we’ll just keep believing we can make it happen,” Luce says about the fundraising process. “That’s how the world gets done. That’s actually the way the building was done in the first place; the black folks in the community wanted that church, they threw in whatever they could find, they went

1850 out, they asked for the support of the white community … that’s kind of the attitude that we have to have is if the community wants this, they’re gonna have to support it.” The fact that Hendricks is now president of a society that wants to restore a historical church takes on additional meaning, given her family history. “My grandmother built a church [when I was] a child,” she says. “I find it highly ironic that I’m building a church, or rebuilding a church, and so I’m very excited because I feel like it’s the place where I’m supposed to be and it’s where I’m supposed to use my efforts … and I look forward to what’s gonna happen in the future.” When enough funds are raised and the building is finally restored to its former beauty, Mount Zion will serve as a multipurpose building for the black community of Athens. A worship space will still be offered to those who wish to practice religion in the building, but it will also be a gathering space. Adams says she hopes Mount Zion can become a space for businesses and university organizations to meet and host events. “I think that the church can serve as a center to pull African American community members in,” Hendricks says. “There are places for other groups to meet, [but] there is no place for the people in the [black] community here to meet or discuss things or just hang out, especially if you’re not part of Ohio University.” The Mount Zion Baptist Church not only represents the history and contributions of the black community in Athens, but also serves as a way to look to the future of the community. African Americans have contributed to the evolution of Athens as a community, and the preservation society strongly believes that their legacy cannot be pushed aside. “I am a real believer that if you wanna understand history, you have to understand it from multiple perspectives, not just white American,” Luce says. The black community in Athens had a profound impact on the culture and way of life in the town, but it has been forgotten over the years. “There were lots of people in this community who made contributions whose names are lost, whose contributions are lost … the history of this church was almost lost and we’ve had to reconstruct a great deal of that … and kind of resurrect that history,” Luce says. “I think it’s important to know and I think it’s important for people a hundred years from now to know that there were these folks who lived here one time … and the church, in their case, had to be the center of their existence because they weren’t welcome into other parts of the community.” In Luce’s opinion, Mount Zion’s very existence serves as proof the story is being shared with the greater Athens community. “We’re telling the culture of black America from the standpoint of a small community that appreciates those people who were here, their stories, their contributions,” he says. “To me, it is a symbol of commitment to equality and a sense of appreciation for those people who are too often overlooked and underappreciated.” b

1872

1876

A small, Christianminded black community gathered for religious services in the home of community members Joseph and Henrietta Miller.

1900 1902

The church constructed its first building on Lancaster Street with financial support from the white community and Rev. Joseph Wilson Jr. as the pastor.

1905

Edward C. and Martha “Mattie” Berry begin a building fund.

Ground for the church was broken under the pastorate of Rev. George Washington at 32 W. Carpenter St.

1906 Early services were held in the basement.

1909 The building was formally dedicated as the Mt. Zion Baptist Church.

1940-60 The church and congregation thrived.

1950 1974

2000

Congregation dwindled and the building fell into decline.

Dr. Francine Childs joined faculty at Ohio University and involved students in forming a choir known as the Mt. Zion Gospel Voices of Faith.

2013 The Mount Zion Preservation Society is formed.

2017 The preservation society receives ownership of the church.

2019

2019 Restoration efforts continue.

FEATURE

Centered on the

ARTS

STRA

Situated on the corner of Public Square, Stuart’s Opera House serves as the cultural cornerstone of Nelsonville. BY ALLY LANASA | PHOTOS PROVIDED BY SCOTTY HALL

uilt on the corner of the public square in Nelsonville, Ohio, in 1879, Stuart’s Opera House had an original mission to house vaudeville, melodrama and minstrel shows. Since its opening, Stuart’s has far exceeded its purpose as a popular showplace in Southeast Ohio. With a rich history combined with an investment in the arts, Stuart’s has become an anchor in the community both culturally and financially. “We see ourselves as a regional leader in the arts community,” says Brian Koscho, the marketing director of Stuart’s Opera House and the Nelsonville Music Festival. “We see ourselves as an arts center here in Nelsonville, in a place that really can use that.” Koscho has been working at Stuart’s Opera House since July 2007. His main responsibilities are to attract visitors, promote events and raise awareness about the arts education programs and other opportunities available at Stuart’s. “Within the last couple of years now, our arts ed program

backdrop | Spring 2019

has included us paying for and placing an art teacher in … Nelsonville York Middle School and restarting the Nelsonville York High School drama program and hiring an instructor to work with a teacher to develop a play to get the kids acting or in the art class getting them creating,” Koscho says. Last summer, Stuart’s hosted Appalachian Music Week. People of all ages and skill levels were invited to sign up to learn about Appalachian culture and to learn how to play the banjo, mandolin, fiddle or guitar. During the academic year, students from ages 13 to 18 can participate in a rock ’n’ roll after-school program. The students form bands and write songs, then perform their gigs at the Nelsonville Music Festival in June. All programs for students in kindergarten through 12th grade are currently free. “We think that the arts are good for people’s wellbeing and for people’s health,” Koscho says. “A healthy arts community that has that kind of programming and things available for it will ultimately be a better community in every other way too.”

Leading the Stuart’s Opera House staff is Tim Peacock. Peacock is an independent music promoter. He has put on shows in venues around Athens, Ohio University’s campus and the Opera House. In 2002, he was offered the Opera House’s executive director position. Peacock works with a staff of seven full-time employees to ensure the wellbeing of the non-profit organization. He also books the events for the Opera House and the Nelsonville Music Festival in June. The music festival attracts about 7,000 people a day. Visitors from across the country, and even some from across the world, come to Nelsonville for the four-day event, Peacock Backstage show with Waxahatchee, Night Shop and Anna St. Louis in September 2018, photo by Scotty Hall.

says. Some of the bigger names who have performed at the festival include Wilco, The Avett Brothers, The Flaming Lips and Willie Nelson. However, Peacock says the beauty of the festival and the Opera House is introducing concertgoers to new artists, especially those who are not famous. “It’s definitely a much smaller scale of performers, but that doesn’t depreciate their quality,” he says. “It makes them less famous. Famous doesn’t make them better … A lot of people sometimes see a name of someone performing somewhere, be it Stuart’s Opera House or the Casa Cantina in Athens or the Schottenstein Center in Columbus, and they may not know the name and quickly their brain dismisses that person because they are not familiar with them.” When booking events, Peacock’s general rule is the performer must be able to sell 150 to 200 tickets at a $20 price. The Opera House seats 400 people. Although Peacock has hired a variety of performers from reggae bands and indie rock bands to Mongolian throat singers, the Opera House is known for Americana folk music. “I would say our core basis of audience who are regular attendees at Stuart’s Opera House, you could loosely put that genre of what they like or what they pay to see as sort of Americana folky,” Peacock says. “However, many of them would never pigeonhole themselves that way as strictly a folk fan and/or an Americana fan, and we would never pigeonhole ourselves in saying that’s what we book.” The Opera House hosts about 75 entertainment events annually, including concerts and productions by the Athenian Berean Players, the local community theater company. Bruce Dalzell was first introduced to the Opera House

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FEATURE

“

Nothing is as important as people having a love for a place and knowing how important it is in their community and in their lives.” BRIAN KOSCHO MARKETING DIRECTOR OF STUART’S OPERA HOUSE by his father, who acted with the Athenian Berean Players. About 10 years ago, Dalzell, who is affectionately known as the patriarch of the Athens music scene, took the stage himself. “When I’m playing in Stuart’s, it’s like playing in church,” Dalzell says. “It really is. It’s kind of a rich environment for a performer. Rich is a good word for it. It is what I would imagine performing at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville feels like, you know?” Dalzell tunes the piano for performances at the venue and has hosted several benefit shows and open

A young fiddler learns from instructor Joe Burdock at Stuart’s free Appalachian Music Week program in Summer 2018.

backdrop | Spring 2019

stage nights there as well. Since 1990, he has been hosting open stage nights on Fridays at The Front Room Coffeehouse in Baker Center. “I think energy imprints on the walls. It does. You can feel it after awhile,” Dalzell says. “Not so much [in The Front Room] yet. Maybe in another 10 years or so, but I do, I think you can walk into that place and feel a 150 years of crazy, excited, entertaining people in there.” The Opera House was the brainchild of George Stuart, who owned and operated a showboat until it sunk in 1869. Construction for the Opera House began afterward and was completed in 1879. The building served as a cultural center in the town and hosted community events until it closed in 1924 due to a preference for film over live theater. Stuart’s Opera House remained closed until the 1970s, when it was purchased by the Hocking Valley Museum of Theatrical History with the intent to restore it as a working theater. Members of the Hocking Valley Museum of Theatrical History formed a nonprofit organization with the initial goal not to do shows, but to renovate the Opera House into a theatrical history museum. It had been well preserved over the 50 years it went unused. The Opera House required numerous basic updates including a bathroom, wheelchair accessibility, HVAC units and proper electrical engineering, Koscho says. The nonprofit began raising funds and fixing what it could afford. Efforts to restore the building were diminished when it was engulfed in flames on March 24, 1980. The fire destroyed most of the theater and stage. After much debate, it was decided that the Opera House would be restored, again. Over the course of 17 years, the nonprofit organization raised funds and made repairs. The grand reopening occured on March 8, 1997, with Jack F. Spell’s performance of “Ladies and Gentlemen: Mark Twain.” The non-profit purchased 30 Public Square, the building next to the Opera House, to be used as an education and community center. In 2015, prior to the renovations, the building experienced a fire, Koscho says. “We lost that whole building at 30 Public Square, but the theater itself and the downstairs just received smoke and water damage, so it took a lot of cleaning up and then obviously that one building it took a complete rebuild,” he says. The reasons for both fires are unknown, but the Opera House staff has been reassured that there wasn’t any foul play. “We’ve been through a couple fires and a couple times of change,” Koscho says. “But it’s been kind of amazing to see the Opera House is pretty strong, a strong building and institution to kind of find its way not just through difficult things that come up, but come out of them better than it was before it seems

The Wood Brothers perform in November 2017.

Guitar instruction during Stuart’s free Appalachian Music Week program in Summer 2018.

like, so we’re thankful for that.” A $4 million campaign funded the most recent expansion and renovations, including the rebuild of 30 Public Square, new offices, a catering kitchen and a grand lobby. Stuart’s Opera House celebrated the grand opening of the new spaces in December 2017. Stuart’s Opera House has rented space to organizations such as OU, the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio, Rural Action and My Sister’s Place. The space may also be rented for weddings and receptions.

“We try to ... do anything that involves bringing the community in and folks into Stuart’s too,” Koscho says. Joshua Frash and his wife Hayley rented the downstairs area of Stuart’s Opera House for their wedding reception on March 17, 2018. The OU alumni were married at Galbreath Chapel on campus. They chose Stuart’s for their reception because it was an affordable and historic venue. With enough space for up to 250 people, the lobby and reception area were large enough for the couple’s needs and created a “homey” atmosphere, where all the guests could celebrate together. “Brent Armel, who’s the events coordinator there, he did a fabulous job just fulfilling our needs and being available the day of,” Frash says. “It didn’t feel like we were stressed at all at the actual reception. It flowed really well.” The intimate, historical venue is a beloved aspect of the community. Since 1879, Stuart’s Opera House has driven people to Nelsonville for productions, concerts and other events, enhancing the area economically and culturally. Those who come to see entertainment buy more than tickets. They buy into the mission of the Opera House and offer support for arts education in Southeast Ohio, Koscho says. “Nothing is as important as people having a love for a place and knowing how important it is in their community and in their lives,” Koscho says.b

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PHOTO STORY

DISCIPLI

STRENGTH THROUGH PHOTOS AND STORY BY MAX CATALANO

rom 2011 to 2012, Kalen Patterson served in Afghanistan working to defuse bombs. Patterson, now 29 years old, is from Ray, Ohio. His interests are featured on his skin as detailed tattoos, which depict his pets, and hobbies like music and photography. Patterson’s python Louise and his dog Peaches help him cope with PTSD receive from his time in Afghanistan. Peaches is tattooed on his right hand, and his deceased snake Tina is tattooed on his left. When he was younger, Patterson raced ATV’s professionally and says it gave him a powerful adrenaline rush. Now, he rides as a hobby at places like Wildwood Lake Raceway. He works in a Walmart warehouse from early morning until the afternoon then returns home to work on one of his projects. Patterson is in the process of building his own home and works on it late into the night. Patterson has built everything but the foundation. b

ABOVE

Patterson lines up the newly cut trim above a door in his house.

backdrop | Spring 2019

â&#x20AC;&#x2020;NE

Patterson in his workshop at his new home lining up a piece of trim.

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PHOTO STORY

RIGHT

Pattersonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 3-year-old, 10-foot-long, ultra-ivory tiger reticulated python, Louise. Louise is named after a character from Bobâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Burgers and lives in Patterson's basement.

backdrop | Spring 2019

LEFT

Patterson riding his ATV at the Wildwood Lake Raceway. He says racing is 90 percent cleaning and working on his bike, but is worth it for thrill of being on the track.

BELOW

Patterson’s helmet and tires splattered with mud after a long race. Patterson says getting muddy is refreshing and helps with the strain riding puts on his body.

LEFT

“My dog is the main reason I’m alive.” Patterson and his dog Peaches at his mother’s house.

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CALENDAR

OONN TTH THE HHEE Whether you’re looking for entertainment or professional opportunities, there are plenty of exciting events coming up in Athens. See what’s happening this spring and don’t miss out on some great events. BY LIZ HARPER

Ohio University Business of Games Summit 2019 FEBRUARY 22, 9 A.M. - 9 P.M. The Business of Games Summit brings together students, educators, entrepreneurs and members of the digital game industry. View the schedule and register for the event on the GRID Lab web page.

RENT FEBRUARY 26 AND 27, 7:30 P.M. The Tony Award-winning musical’s 20th anniversary tour makes a special stop in Athens for two nights. Tickets for the first 10 rows are $35 and the rest are $27 a piece, and they can be purchased online.

Midnight Meltdown Hawaiian Luau Night MARCH 2, 10:30 P.M. Grab your friends and enjoy a late night skating session, which takes place in Bird Arena and goes until midnight. Skate rentals are only $4 for everyone, and OU students skate free. Admission for adults is $5 and $4 for children.

backdrop | Spring 2019

Kip Moore: Room to Spare Acoustic Tour MARCH 22, 8 P.M. Catch a night of toe-tapping music with country artist Kip Moore at Memorial Auditorium, preceded by a performance by Muscadine Bloodline. Tickets are $45 for the first 10 rows and $35 for all other seats.

Take Back the Night APRIL 4, 6-9:30 P.M. Join the annual rally that allows students and community members to reclaim the night in light of sexual and domestic violence. Listen to survivors share their experiences and encourage each other before marching through town together.

A unique gathering place of students and community members Social Justice • Fair Trade • Local Art & Music • Spoken Word Musicians Open Stage Reader’s Choice Friendly Service Awarded Best Coffee House In Ohio By Ohio Magazine

www.donkeycoffee.com www.backdropmagazine.com

CALENDAR

19 WAYS TO CONTRIBUTE TO YOUR COMMUNITY 1

FARMER'S MARKET The market runs every Wednesday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon on East State Street. Support Athens farmers by purchasing fresh produce and other locally grown and made products at the farmers market.

FOOD DRIVE The food pantry is located on the third floor of Baker Center. Grab an extra can of soup or box of mac & cheese the next time you’re at the store and donate to OU’s food pantry to support Athens residents in need this winter.

COMMUNITY FOOD INITATIVES engage@communityfoodinitiatives.org Community Food Initiatives works to provide local, healthy food to Appalachian Ohio. Volunteer with the organization by helping maintain community gardens, gathering food donations or preparing produce for distribution.

4 HABITAT FOR HUMANITY

5 RURAL ACTION

http://www.habitatseo.org/ get-involved/

http://ruralaction.org/getinvolved/volunteer/

Habitat for Humanity’s southeastern Ohio affiliate helps Athens and surrounding counties by working with those in need of affordable housing through construction work and assisting at Habitat’s supply store.

Share your talents by serving as a volunteer writer or photographer for Rural Action, a nonprofit organization working to strengthen economic, social and cultural aspects of Appalachian Ohio . .

ILLUSTRATIONS BY HALEIGH CONTINO & JESSICA KOYNOCK

backdrop | Spring 2019

6 BEAUTIFICATION DAY Every year, the Community Service Leadership Council hosts Athens Beautification Day in April. Look out for the date to register and clean up the Athens community.

7 BE SUSTAINABLE

13 GATHERING PLACE https://www.thegpathens.org/for-volunteers-

With the start of the new year, now is the time to make an effort to live a sustainable life. Take reusable bags when shopping, organize trash into recyclables or compost leftovers.

The Gathering Place is a nonprofit support program for adults coping with mental illness. The organization’s staff and volunteers work with individuals to provide support, healthy food and recreational activities.

PREGNANCY CENTER https://www. athenspregnancy. com/

8 SIERRA CLUB Become involved with community programs, participate in conservation initiatives or help recruit other volunteers. There are various opportunities to volunteer such as participating in river cleanups or water quality monitoring.

Donate infant clothing, diapers, toys, soaps and blankets to the Pregnancy Resource Center to help expecting mothers. The center also accepts monetary donations.

RED CROSS Donate blood, become CPR certified or volunteer with the workforce.

9 SUPPORT LGBTQ YOUTH IN PRISM Donations can be dropped off at the ARTS/West building, 132 W. State St.

16 MY SISTER’S PLACE mspathens.org

Prism is an after-school, arts-focused program for LGBTQ+ youth. Gift cards for Kroger, JOANN Fabric & Craft Stores, Walmart or other stores can be used for the program to purchase snacks and supplies.

My Sister’s Place is a domestic violence agency that offers counseling, outreach and emergency shelter to victims of relationship abuse. Donate through bringing items that fit the current needs list, like underwear and toiletries.

17 LIBRARY

GOODWILL

PASSION WORKS

175 Columbus Rd.

www.passionworks.org

Donate coats and other winter gear to Goodwill.

Passion Works Studio is a creative and hospitable space committed to fostering creativity in all artists.

FRIENDS WITH SHELTER DOGS www.fosdathens.com Located on the third floor of Baker Center. Friends of the Shelter Dogs: Friends of the Shelter Dogs is an Athens County nonprofit organization committed to protecting displaced dogs through rescue and adoption.

SE OHIO HISTORY CENTER

https://www.myacpl. org/volunteer/

24 West State St.

Give back to our local library by volunteering to organize shelves or read to children in the community.

Help preserve local history by volunteering with the Southeast Ohio History Center.

ATHENS COUNTY CHILDREN SERVICES https://www.athenschildrenservices.com/ surveys/contact Donate school supplies, stuffed animals, coloring books, pajamas, socks and hygiene products to Athens County Children Services to aid local children. All donations must be new.

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SEX & HEALTH

SOUNDS OF

MEDITATION An Athens-based meditation expert spreads her healing practice. BY NATALIE MATESIC | ILLUSTRATIONS BY ASHLEY LAFLIN

editation may seem difficult to some, but a local instructor is determined to change that belief. Emilie Walker is a meditation and sound healing instructor and the founder of Full Bloom, a meditation and sound healing business located in Athens.

“Full bloom” is a term that means a lot to Walker. She chose the name to symbolize the lotus flower, a symbol that represents human potential and consciousness; a flower that blooms in muddy waters. “[When] we kind of settle things down and settle into that space of calm and quiet that is with us all the time, that’s when a blossoming of human

Chakras represent each of the centers of spiritual power in the human body.

CROWN CHAKRA Top of Head

backdrop | Spring 2019

THIRD EYE CHAKRA Forehead

THROAT CHAKRA

Hollow of Throat

HEART CHAKRA

Center of Chest

consciousness can happen,” Walker says. The use of meditation can guide the full bloom along. Walker offers private, guided sessions out of her clients’ homes or preferred area and specializes in both individual and group-oriented sessions. Meditation came into Walker’s life when a friend introduced her to the practice in 2004. Walker had just moved to Athens from Bolivia and wanted to try something new. Throughout her journey of learning about meditation, she found different uses for the practice, utilizing its benefits for healing and internal wisdom. “Originally, I was interested in it more [for] the mystical experiences, but as life went on, it became more helpful for everyday life,” Walker says. “As it became more of an everyday thing, I started to notice subtle shifts in the way that I responded to events in life and my interactions with family.” Once Walker saw the benefits of the practice in her daily life, she started teaching classes in Athens. In 2004, she moved to India and lived with a meditation guru who taught her more about meditation and spiritual healing. She stayed there for nearly a decade. After moving back to America, Walker trained with Jane Shallberg at the Arizona Sound and Music Therapy Institute in 2013. Shallberg, who is a certified music therapist, is trained in Himalayan chakra singing-bowl therapy and introduced Walker to sound healing. Now, when Walker teaches sound healing, her sessions start with setting an intention. The sessions are performed with hand-hammered metal bowls that are struck and rubbed with a mallet to create a mesmerizing ringing sound. The vibrations and sounds created by the bowls can bring a client a sense of peace and serenity while decreasing stress

and creating internal light, Walker says. Sound healing with Tibetan hand-hammered bowls is a ritual that started nearly 2,500 years ago at the time of the Buddha’s birth, Walker says. There are different Tibetan bowls for each of the seven chakras. Chakras are focal points of energy in the body that affect spiritual and emotional being. Chakras can be balanced and opened to create space and awareness in the mind and body. Walker says each Tibetan bowl correlates with a chakra. The sounds from the bowls work to relax an aspect of consciousness, open a chakra and put it in balance. Some bowls, she says, are heavier than others, and therefore can create different effects. Walker believes sound healing is meant to be an immersive experience. During a typical sound healing session, she starts out with a goal. Throughout the session, the goal is repeated as Walker goes through the seven chakras. Walker’s future plans for Full Bloom and her meditation career include teaching courses for students at Ohio University and expanding her sound healing business. She hopes to have her own studio in the future and to reach people that are interested in learning more about meditation. As a teacher, Walker aims to utilize her meditation skills to help other teachers. She relates to the struggles they experience on a daily basis such as stress, depression and feelings of inadequacy. She would love to extend her knowledge to assist other professionals. In whatever setting meditation is practiced, Walker says it is important to welcome the experience. “Have a self-compassionate approach to it. There is no perfect meditation,” she says. “Every meditation is different. Every experience is different.” b

BOOKINGS

SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA Above Diaphram

SACRAL CHAKRA

Lower Abdomen

ROOT CHAKRA

If you would like to schedule a private meditation or sound healing session with Emilie Walker, check out fullbloommeditation.com for more information.

Tail Bone

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SEX & HEALTH A CHANCE FOR

RECOVERY A local effort to transform a prison into a recovery center restores hope in those struggling with addiction. BY AVERY KREEMER | GRAPHICS BY SAMANTHA MUSLOVSKI ust north of Nelsonville – an old-fashioned mining town located in Ohio’s Appalachian foothills – a large building complex formerly known as the Hocking Correctional Facility lies idle. The prison, which was formerly home to some 400 aging inmates, was fully shut down by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction in March 2017. The closure meant the relocation of 110 jobs and the loss of several vital utility contracts in the small Appalachian town that is struggling to stay afloat, like so many other communities in the region. In 2017, before the closure, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that about 40 percent of Nelsonville’s estimated 5,292 residents lived in poverty, with the median household income of the town at about two-fifths that of the median American household income; the public school district received a D grade from the Ohio Department of Education; a relatively recent highway bypass redirected traffic around the city. In many ways, Nelsonville has been hit with heavy burdens, including the inability to escape the grasp of the opioid epidemic that has such a strong hold on the region. The four-state area of West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Kentucky, in descending order, had the four highest state drug overdose death rates in the country in 2017. Each of those states saw a significant increase from the year before, leaving Nelsonville uniquely centered in an area that has an average age-adjusted overdose rate of 46.4 overdose deaths per 100,000 people. And, with the shift of usage from heroin or prescription opiates to ultra-potent synthetic opiates such as fentanyl or carfentanil, administrator of the Athens City-County Health Department Jack Pepper believes drug overdose deaths could keep climbing in the region. “I don’t think that we’ve seen the peak yet. If you go on the numbers from last year, just in overdose deaths, we’re still seeing an increase in that,” he says.

backdrop | Spring 2019

In the face of the growing epidemic, the community surrounding Nelsonville is leading an effort to repurpose the town’s idle correctional facility into a women’s recovery center and turn the town into a leader in the fight against opioid addiction. The effort, called the Appalachian Recovery Center Project, consists of 22 regional organizations, most of which are direct partners of the Ohio Alliance for Innovation in Population Health (OAIPH). The OAIPH, also known as the Alliance, is an Ohio University-backed collaborative organization that links together healthcare providers, researchers, communities and policymakers to create solutions for public health issues in Ohio. Rick Hodges, the director of the Alliance and OU executive in residence who worked as the manager of the project, says he expects the center to be opened in 2019. The center is not yet officially named. “We’re excited that we have a project,” Hodges says. “The whole notion is to make it a very different kind of facility than what exists out there in the country right now.” Once repurposed, the three-story facility will be split in two and run by different entities. It will be solely for women, as to make up for the lack of bed space around the state for low-level female felons and misdemeanants. The first floor will be a community-based correctional facility (CBCF) run by STAR of Southern Ohio. CBCFs are state-funded alternatives to standard incarceration that focus on rehabilitating generally nonviolent offenders. The second and third floors will be jail space with a rehabilitative focus managed by the Hocking County sheriff. STAR, which runs a 250-bed facility in Franklin Furnace, Ohio, uses behavioral-cognitive therapy, educational practices and aftercare plans to reduce the odds of a past offender comitting another offense. “The community-based corrections facility is a very different culture,” Hodges says. “But we’re also trying to

THE EPIDEMIC ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL APPALACHIA The Appalachian region has been hit the hardest by the opioid epidemic, and death rates continue to climb. With a locally-run recovery center, Nelsonville will be the home of a unique approach.

LOWEST

44.3 PER 100,000

46.3 PER 100,000

HIGHEST

57.8 DEATHS PER 100,000 PEOPLE

37.2 PER 100,000

Data: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

share that culture with the jail so that the focus is on recovery.” The recovery center is described as a wrap-around facility in a statement from the office of U.S. Rep. Steve Stivers, meaning that the center will focus on making sure people stay healthy after receiving in-patient care. The main focuses will be on crisis intervention, treatment access, rehabilitation and job placements. Stivers, who represents Nelsonville in the U.S. House of Representatives, arranged a large meeting with local leaders on behalf of the effort in January 2018 and has supported the repurposing project since the early stages. As a U.S. congressman’s involvement might suggest, the project has been lauded at local, state and federal levels, and on both sides of the aisle as well. About $10 million in funding has been accumulated so far. “We’ve received support and hard work from a lot of people,” Hodges says. “Everybody has checked their egos at the door and come together for the common good because of the importance of this project.” Within the first two years of operation, over 2,000 expected patients will have access to mental health treatment, inpatient and outpatient care, job training and education, and transitional housing services. With health agencies and officials still trying to understand what resources are most beneficial to those battling addiction, having a variety of treatment options available is vital. “There really isn’t a lot of good information out there,” Pepper says. “This is such a new and evolving problem that we’re still really in that early phase of data gathering and

evaluating treatments that work.” Housing so many treatment options and resources in a consolidated space is a unique approach to tackle the opioid epidemic, and it’s incomparable to anything else in the state or the nation, Hodges says. “It’s not just going to revolutionize the way Ohio or Appalachia tackles the opioid epidemic,” Stivers says, “But it’s creating a model that can be used across the country.” With such a project placed in Nelsonville, the center has an opportunity to not only help people recover, but to help a community recover too. The utility contracts that Nelsonville lost from the closure of Hocking Correctional will be restored, giving the town an important boost in revenue. Stivers’ office expects 148 local jobs to be created, 24 of which will be filled by graduates of Ohio’s drug court program, which is an increasingly common method of ensuring that people struggling with addiction receive appropriate and personalized treatment. By partnering with drug courts around Ohio, the center can also expand the drug court program by giving opiateaddicted offenders an avenue for recovery. As the community rallies around the project, an understanding presents itself. With the center and the benefits the project is expected to sow, a small Appalachian town will have used bipartisan dialogue and community organizers to turn a large-scale job loss into a bold example of recovery. “Ultimately,” Hodges says, “the goal is to give people a second chance at life.” b www.backdropmagazine.com

ENTERTAINMENT

ACCORDING TO Dan Erlewine is transforming the music community with his knowledge and expertise on guitar repair. BY MICHAELA FATH | PHOTOS BY GARRETT MCCAFFERTY

t’s an organized, chaotic mess: smooth wood, metal strings and all things guitar-related fill the small workspace, each placed around the shop with a purpose. Every day, employees at Dan Erlewine’s Guitar Shop work diligently to repair cracks, chips and broken strings on guitars sent to them from around the world while maintaining the distinctive quality and spirit of the instruments. For over 32 years, owner Dan Erlewine has constructed a prestigious reputation in the world of guitar repair through his shop in Athens. “I’d say go ahead and add some more color to that,” Erlewine says to one of his employees as he points to the freshly painted guitar frame. “Add some black or some brown as it’s still wet and maybe we’ll get something good out of it.” A number of damaged instruments are displayed on the walls, some covered with scrapes, chipped wood and marks certain

backdrop | Spring 2019

DAN

to make any musician cringe. Each day, Erlewine and a few of his employees can be found in the small white guitar shop on Columbia Avenue on the north side of Athens, hunched over their latest projects and focused on their work. Raised by a woodworker father and an artist mother in Ann Arbour, Michigan, Erlewine’s early interest in music and guitar repair stemmed from his parents’ work and his hometown’s hip music scene. In the 1970s, Erlewine’s handcrafted guitars attracted a number of artists, some of whom are legends in the industry. After meeting iconic blues singer and guitarist Albert King during an Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival in the early 1970s, Erlewine received a request for a custom-built guitar for King. “I had told him that I had that wood that looked just like his skin,” he says. “He was dark and I was

planning to use a rich black walnut wood. He came over and checked it out, and he brought over his Flying V that he was famous for. He wanted

“

The man is crazy. If he has some repair he wants to do, he sits, stares and studies it for days before he decides how he wants to approach the repair itself. ” FRANK MCDERMOTT OWNER OF BLUE EAGLE MUSIC

A guitar Dan Erlewine had previously worked on.

one– he wanted it to be fancier.” The Flying V became one of King’s trademark looks, as the V-shaped, left-handed guitar was strapped on his body during nearly every performance throughout his career. Today, King’s Flying V is owned by actor and guitar collector Steven Seagal, who bought the guitar for nearly a quarter of a million dollars. Around the same time he constructed the original Flying V, Erlewine made guitars for other notable artists, including a one-of-akind guitar for The Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia in 1971. Erlewine’s abundance of black walnut wood became useful after his decision to create a number of clones of the famous Flying V, one of which belongs to Erlewine’s close friend Frank McDermott, who owns Blue Eagle Music in Athens. “The black walnut was big enough that he’s made about eight clones of

the original,” McDermott says. “He contacted me because I’m left-handed just like Albert King. He asked me if I knew anyone that would be interested in buying this guitar and I said, ‘Dan, really?’ so it’s mine.” Years later, Erlewine felt it was necessary to move to a smaller town and settled in Big Rapids, Michigan, with his wife and daughter. Erlewine stuck with his passion for music and incorporated the newest technology, creating one of the first instructional guitar repair videotapes. Knowing that his videos could change the guitar world forever, he took them to the National Association of Musical Merchants (NAMM) show in 1985. “It’s a huge show; from fiddles to pianos to everything...” he says. “There were about 11,000 music stores in the U.S. at that time. The owners go and come from all over the world.” While at the NAMM show, a representative from the StewartMacDonald company noticed

Erlewine’s videotapes and instantly offered him a job at the company’s music shop in Athens. Since then, Erlewine has helped transform the Stewart-MacDonald company into a leading guitar supplier. “It was a big move, but I’m glad we did it,” Erlewine says. “We left a big family behind in Michigan, but I’ve been here for 32 years and have definitely taken [Stewart-MacDonald] into the guitar world.” Erlewine’s success led him to construct his own shop years later, conveniently located directly next to his home. He has no shortage of work to do, in part because of his willingness to spend hundreds of hours on a single project. Some such projects can cost thousands of dollars, he says. “Athens is lucky to have Dan. He’s still around and doing research and development, trying to find new ways on how to fix guitars,” McDermott says. “The man is crazy. If he has some repair he wants to do, he sits, stares and studies it for days before he decides how he wants to approach the repair itself. He’s really a pioneer in guitar repair.” Over the years, Erlewine’s impressive, noninvasive repair strategies have piqued the interests of members of the surrounding community. Since opening his Athens shop in 1986, Erlewine has trained nearly 20 students in guitar repair and plans to continue his path of teaching students the craft of music and repair. He even decided to turn a portion of his home into a small apartment for those wishing to work for him full-time. As for the future, Erlewine will keep repairing instruments, producing how-to videos, helping the StewartMacDonald company and growing his business to the best of his ability. “We have more work in here than we should have,” Erlewine says. “I take on a lot of odd guitars that are rare and other people can’t fix. Sometimes I shouldn’t take them on, but I do because I’m dying to see them. I love the entire process.” b

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HISTORY

SHE’S GOT

GRIT

BY ELEANOR BISHOP | PHOTOS BY MAX CATALANO

Margaret “Rootie” Covelle has spent a lifetime paving the way for other women in her field.

t is an unforgiving summer day in Glouster, Ohio, 1945. Margaret “Rootie” Covelle, age 14, digs into the earth. She is surrounded by men twice her age. Covelle has never been one to shy away from a little dirt. Or anything, really. “When I was little, I used to go outside and play all the time,” she says. “I’d come in with dirt on my nose, and [my mother would] say, ‘You been out there rootin’ in the ground… she called me Rootin’ to start with, and then it got to be Rootie.” The name stuck. But on this particular day, Covelle isn’t playing. She’s digging a water line that will bring potable water to her home, located in an area of Glouster known as Little Italy for its high concentration of Italian immigrants, Covelle and her family among them. The job was meant for her father, who fell ill one day into the three-day project. Covelle, one of six children, took matters into her own hands. “I asked the boss if I could take his place for the other two days,” she says. “And he said, ‘I don’t know, I don’t see why not if you can do the job.’ … I finished up my two days and we got our three-day pay.” That was Covelle’s first water line, but it wouldn’t be her last. Covelle didn’t plan on being the first female operating engineer in Ohio. In fact, she didn’t plan on being an operating engineer at all; she just owned a backhoe. It was the 1960s. After about 10 years of working for National Electric Oil in Columbus, Ohio, 29-year-

backdrop | Spring 2019

old Covelle moved back home. She had grown tired of city life and the monotony of factory work. “I kept getting better jobs in the factory all the time and I kept thinking, I don’t like this job, I don’t care,” she says. “I wanna do something I want to do.” In 1967, Covelle’s neighbor approached her with an idea to make a little extra money. Gene Fitch Construction was installing a water system in the area, and he proposed that the two of them buy a backhoe and dig service lines to people’s houses. Covelle agreed to try it out. When her neighbor was unexpectedly called back to his job in the mines, Covelle was stuck with a piece of equipment she had never operated before. “In my backyard I started working with it,” she says. “[I] got to digging holes and covering ’em up and digging holes and covering ’em up ’till I got to learn how to run it.” When a man from Gene Fitch Construction came looking for an operator, he spotted the backhoe sitting in her yard. Fifty-one years after the fact, Covelle recalls the conversation that followed: “Who owns that backhoe?” he asked. “I do– me and my neighbor do,” she replied. “Do you want a job?” “Doing what?” “Running a backhoe, putting a water line down here.” “I don’t know, I’m not that good.” “Well, let me be the judge.” “Well, if you promise to tell me the truth, don’t just fire me, just tell me

that I’m not good enough.” “I’ll tell you.” She started work the next week and stayed on as an operator with Gene Fitch for three more years. In 1970, she received her union card, officially making her the first woman in Ohio to join the operating engineers. She then decided to branch off as an independent subcontractor. “I got to thinking, well you know, I could probably run a business for myself,” she says. Covelle followed contractors across the hills of ‘southern’ Ohio. The contractors would install water systems in rural towns and she would dig the service lines. Covelle says her independent spirit came from her mother, Lena Covelle, who immigrated to America from Santa Sofia, Italy, at the age of 19. Covelle’s father was supposed to marry Lena’s sister, who fell ill before the journey.

“

I got to thinking, well you know, I could probably run a business for myself.” MARGARET “ROOTIE” COVELLE

Lena was sent in her sister’s place, betrothed to a man she had never met. “My mom was like a mail order bride,” Covelle says. When Covelle’s father died at the age of 50, Lena raised six children on her husband’s meager miner’s pension. “She was so smart,” Covelle says. “If she could have had some schooling, she could’ve been anything she wanted to be.” Media at the time viewed Covelle as something of a fascinating novelty. The headline of a 1967 story from a local newspaper reads: “Look Who’s Up Front On A Backhoe!” A 1970 edition of Ohio Contractor named her one of “Ohio’s Liberated Women.” Despite the good press, being the only woman in her field was not without its challenges. “I was pretty backward at the time,” Covelle says. “But I felt like I had to really prove myself or I wouldn’t be accepted.” Covelle is adamant, however, that she never felt opposition from her coworkers or the community over her choice of employment. “I got along good with all the workers, I never had any problems,” she says. “They treated me good and I tried to treat them good, you know?” As a Glouster native, Covelle champions for the towns of southeastern Ohio. She is invested in using the government to help the area, which she believes Athens County often ignores. “[The people of Glouster] come together,” she says. “If you need something, they’re there. I don’t care who you are, what color you are … they help, no matter what.” In 1981, she was elected township trustee of Trimble Township, which encompasses Murray City, Glouster and Jacksonville. She beat out a man who had been trustee for 28 years. “He wasn’t happy, but I beat ’im,” she says with a laugh. She stayed in the role for two four-year terms and is currently a central committeeman for the Democratic party, a position she has held for about 20 years. Although she retired in 1992, Covelle hasn’t stopped standing up for Glouster. She has been

a member of the Glouster Community Development Corporation, or GCDC, for about 30 years, serving as the both the president and vice president several times. The GCDC seeks to facilitate economic growth in Glouster, inspired by the bustling small town Covelle remembers from years past, when coal mines provided people with a stable industry and the community had over 50 businesses. “To have a business in this town [today], a thriving business, is hard to come by,” she says. At 87, Covelle hasn’t slowed down much. She golfs three times a week (weather permitting) and enjoys playing poker. She lives in a suburb of Glouster with her partner of nearly 40 years, Columbus native Eva Poling. The two met in 1980 when Covelle was hired to install a water line on a property Poling owned. ‘We’re kinda used to each other now, you know?” Poling says with a laugh. “We’ve done a lot together.” Looking back on her life, Covelle says she feels fortunate to have found a job that meant more to her than a paycheck. “It was always something different, and it was a challenge, and I liked the challenge, she says. “Just don’t go to work for the money, go to work because you like your job. To me that’s more important.” Covelle’s legacy is ingrained in the hills of southeastern Ohio, in the water lines and foundations she dug over a long career of hard work. Maybe even more so, it is present in the women who have come after her; the tenacious, dirt-smeared girls who grew up to make good money working with their hands, who are leaving legacies of their own in those hills, all because someone went first. “My school teacher told me one time,” Covelle says with a laugh. “She said, ‘If you don’t start taking your work home and studying, you’re going to end up digging ditches the rest of your life.’” Covelle smiles. “She didn’t know I was gonna use a backhoe to do it.” b

Margaret ‘Rootie’ Covelle in her home in Glouster telling stories of her early career.

Covelle taking a break in the early years of her working for Gene Fitch.

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Exhibit A.

Andrew Thompson, a junior studying specialized studies in visual communications and geography, captures regional artists performing in Adelphia Music Hall in Marietta, Ohio.

RIGHT

Save Us Astronaut, a punk band from Parkersburg, West Virginia, rocks the stage.

ABOVE

Solo indie-pop artist Colby Lykins, known professionally as On Hi, is from Beaver, Ohio.

ABOVE

We Are Funhouse, an indie-rock band from Parkersburg, West Virginia, captivates the crowd at Adelphia Music Hall. From left to right: Breyer White, guitar player and vocalist; Casey Hardman, drummer and Tyler Ralph Moyers, bass player.

RIGHT

Joe Huck of the band Louts from Marietta, Ohio, strikes a drum.

backdrop | Spring 2019

PHOTO HUNT Spot the five differences between these photos on Court Street. PHOTO BY MAX CATALANO

ORIGINAL

1 2 3 4 5

1. Change color of jacket 2. Removed UniversiTEEs sign 3. Removed Sticker 4. Patched up jeans 5. Removed statue.

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Jackie O’s Pub & Brewery first opened its doors in 2005. Since then, we’ve expanded to include 3 unique Athens locations. Stop by our original Brewpub, located at 24 W Union Street, and sample 18 exclusive drafts made with locally grown ingredients. Right next door, our Public House restaurant features 30 different draft lines and a delicious, locally sourced menu that offers something for everyone. Public House 22 West Union Street Daily 11am-11pm

Court St. Carpenter St.

ve. Stimson A

Taproom & Brewery 25 Campbell Street Mon-Thurs 2pm-9pm Fri-Sat 11am-10pm Sun 12pm-7pm

House N. Congress St.

W. Union St.

BrewPub 24 West Union Street Tues-Thurs 7pm-2am Fri 4pm-2am Sat 2pm-2am

BrewPub & Public

Taproom & Brewery

Just a mile from our uptown locations is our Taproom and Production Brewery, located at 25 Campbell Street. With 16 additional taps, food cart, and a large outdoor patio, it’s a perfect retreat at the edge of town.

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