KSU Talon | Fall 2010

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nes to watch photographer comedian activist entrepreneur professor author designer traveler filmmaker

letter from the

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August 20, 2010 - Bazaar on the Bricks

Layout Design Rachel Goff

Meghan de St. Aubin

Editor in Chief Rachel Goff

Editorial Board

Manager Meghan de St. Aubin Content Editor 1 Richie Essenburg Web Administrator Ryan Schill Promotions Stephanie Wright Content Editor 11 Jessica Meares

Writers

Steph

anie

Cover Photo Meghan de St. Aubin

photo:Jessica Meares

September 10, 2010 - Writer’s Workshop September 16, 2010 - Bella Salon Grand Opening

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Peter Norvell Stephanie Wright Jessica Meares

Disclaimer

Talon Monthly is a registered student feature magazine of KSU. Opinions and ideas expressed in Talon are those of the individual artisits, writers, and editors and are not those of KSU, the Board of Regents, nor the advertisers. Talon is paid for, in part, through the student activity fees and is free of charge to all members of the KSU community.

JOIN US at ksumedia.com and click on the link “JOin US” to fill out an application.

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Cover Model Senior Jessica Hain

Photographers

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John Defoor Josiah Hutchinson Ryan Schill Stephanie Wright Randy Howard

Rachel Goff Meghan de St. Aubin Richie Essenburg Kate Bockhorst Megan Hand John Defoor Josiah Hutchinson Ryan Schill

H Where We’ve Been

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Brittany Grantiz Meghan de St. Aubin Randy Howard

Thank-You

Talon would sincerely like to thank our families and friends, classmates and faculty for their ideas, concerns and feedback. Thanks to the students who participated in this issue and to those who read Talon. FInally, the biggest thanks goes to Ed Bonza, the student media advisor.

Website

Wanna see more? Check out more photos, articles and everything KSU at http://www.ksutalon.com

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Hey Taloners!

I can’t believe it is already our second issue, and it’s already October! In the next 24 pages, you’ll find our first annual “Ones to Watch” issue, which features individuals who have step above and beyond the role of just a student or professor.

What’s make our campus so different (and great) from other college campuses is the amount of diverse students KSU has.

The featured students/professors in this issue range from travelling crafters to comedians to entrepreneurs to authors to activists.

Best of all? They were chosen by you! Thanks to all of you who submitted via our facebook page or e-mail. For more “Ones to Watch” visit www.ksutalon.com, or visit our facebook by searching “TM! Magazine”.

-Rachel Goff

September 24, 2010 - Hockey! KSU vs UGA

Find us!

October 09, 2010 -Light the Night Walk @ Centinnel Olympic Park October 15, 2010 - Talon Magazine Party @ 8:00PM, California Dreaming on Chastain Road

Contents

what we’re into

Regina Spektor: Far

By Richie Essenburg

Getty Images

FEATURES LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

WHAT WE’RE INTO RICHIE ESSENBURG 5 ONES TO WATCH PEOPLE TO KNOW RANDY HOWARD 18 Q & A WITH DIANE LANE MEGAN HAND 22 Talon Magazine 4

RACHEL GOFF 3 7 - 17

“No one laughs at God in a hospital. No one laughs at God in a war. No ones laughing at God when they’re starving, or freezing, or so very poor.” These are the beginning lyrics of the first single, “Laughing With,” from Regina Spektor’s newest album Far. More importantly, these are not lyrics, nor subject matter you would find in the most of female artists that share the same recognition as Regina Spektor. Though there are emulators at worst and unconscious similarities at best, in the nearly-trademarked sound and style of Regina’s voice, there are even less that dare touching such subject matter. She certainly isn’t, “just a little girl caught in the moment,” where simply, “love is a game,” and, “life is a [mere] riddle,” as the artist Lenka would have it.

These sorts of lyrics are not a new endeavor for Spektor. “Loveology,” where she proclaims, “You are all incurable humanists,” takes on the idea of things such as love, or “mama-ology” being socially constructed. Again, the same takes place on the earlier album Songs where, “the Bible didn’t mention us.” While some decidedly regard Spektor as “cute” or even “cutesy,” its hard to believe that Jessica Simpson—more recently gone from the reality show, high-note-wailing voice and demeanor to an intentional “indie,” breathy, staccato style—would come near to “incurable humanists.” Spektor is not in complete conflict with these acclaimed humanists, with more than a few references to literary examples, being in love with boys that love the bookstore, and a bonus track named, “The Sword and the Pen.”

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Cover Story: ones

what we’re into

Getty Images One of Regina’s best qualities has always been her organic and even raw sound. The same can be said here for her songwriting. On Far, the rawness of Regina is preserved more in the songwriting, making for a contrast between the clean sound quality of production that is ever-present on the album. She also retains her originality displayed more directly in past, less produced albums, here in the present with her Spektor staples of word-play, language-play, and experimental vocal sounds. While these original aspects of Regina may not be thoroughly enjoyed by everyone, Spektor has never been one to tingle the ears of the usual, mainstream, Top 40 listener. These vocal and lyrical explorations are often misconstrued as, as I mentioned earlier, “cute.” This is not Spektor’s freshman album, and while she may be attractive, these “cutesy” moments, especially considering her roots, stand more as avant-garde flourishes.

Still, the newest installment for Regina Spektor still has not shied away

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from some of the more produced and perfected sounding recording—this being a slight departure certainly from some of her earliest albums and less so from later albums such as Begin to Hope. At some points on the album though, this works in her favor. “The Genius Next Door,” allows Spektor to not only demonstrate her vocal ability, but even introduce it more directly than she has ever before.

With drums accompanying all but one or two songs, the traditional or “original” fans of Regina may be in for a change in sound, instrumentation, and production. Again, this is quite the contrast from some of her earlier work. Also, the use of a few stringed instruments simultaneously will differ from some of the more “minimalist” Regina, using only a cello or violin. She keeps this minimalism in songs like “Two Birds” and “Dance Anthem of the 80s.”

Still, as she always has, Spektor stays behind her piano and the songs still sound as if they were born organically; this also adds to Regina’s persona, in that, she still looks and comes across as a singer/songwriter type largely due to the fact that she is neither behind a simple microphone nor someone else’s songwriting. Others, such as Jewel, have since ditched their instruments and opted for a full-out mainstream, pop image and sound overall.

Sharing the “anti-folk” genre with others such as Tori Amos or Feist, Regina is not short on competition.

These other female artists have proven their standing, and some much more before Regina ever hit the road.

It seems these three could all play a festival together and get along just fine—when the Lenkas of the world might be better off applying for the next so-called “reality” show.

B ritney Joseph

to watch

photography PETER NORVELL story RACHEL GOFF

“I like it (poetry) more than other type of writing, because it allows an individual to express themslves however they want to,” says Brittney Joseph, junior.

Joseph is one of those college students that sees the world through her pen and transforms her life experiences to beautiful poetry you can read in her book “All The Things I Never Said>” At the ripe age of 12, Joseph began writing poetry. However, she did not decide to make her poems into a book until she started college.

Since this is Joseph’s first book, she decided to use a website called CreateSpace.com to publish her book. The site helped her with the layout and formatting of her book.

Now her book has been available on Amazon.com and CreateSpace.com since May 2010.

Inspire by women poets such as Maya Angelou and Nikki Giovannit, Joseph describes her book as “a peek into some of my earlier life experiences; from high school up to my second year of college,”says Joseph.

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ones to watch

G arrett Moll

photography BRITTANY GRANTIZ story MEGHAN DE ST. AUBIN

It was a glimpse of death that made Garrett Moll realize he was meant for the comedy world. During his freshman year, there was an instance in which he describes himself as “in pain and internally bleeding to death” as a group of EMT’s struggled to carry him to an ambulance. Moll decided during this freak lacrosse accident that there would be nothing better than a good joke about how they were lucky that he wasn’t fat.

“It was one of the worst moments of my life, yet my natural reaction was to crack a joke. That’s when I realized it’s just who I am,” Moll describes humor as the only way he knows how to make sense of the world.

He admits, when he came to KSU he envisioned the campus full of attractive women walking around dressed as sexy teachers and nurses. This only seemed like an appropriate assumption considering these are two popular majors chosen by women. While Moll bitterly claims this was nothing but a come on, he seems

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to have adjusted to school quite well.

Now an economics major, Moll considers his future degree as marketable compared to psychology or creative writing—the majors he considered as a freshman. “I have learned a lot. The only real difference is that the women are few and far between,and the few that are there usually look like either Danny DeVito or Sloth from the Goonies. It’s not pretty.”

If you haven’t already noticed, or haven’t read Moll’s columns in The Sentinel, he likes to play the sexist card. If you’re offended by the comparison of women playing sports compared to Helen Keller, Moll isn’t your guy. However, more than likely he is.

Contrary to popular belief, Moll has a soul. He also likes women and considers himself worthy of a supermodel girlfriend who also works for NASA. He get’s nervous during his stand up performances at The Laughing Skull Lounge in Atlanta just like anyone probably would. Sure, his jokes have bombed before. But more often than not, working comedians have complimented his sets. He finds this to be his greatest source of encouragement.

Moll hopes that one day he will find a job that will allow him to utilize his creative talents. He’s easing his way into comedy and learning the ropes. He insists that life isn’t a fairytale, and he doesn’t want to chase a tough game he can’t win. However, I don’t think any of us should be worried. Any man who can stand in a pool doing a sexy tiger pose and still make the girls giggle proves that Moll will do just about anything for a laugh.- Meghan de St. Aubin

ones to watch

Mary Frances photography JESSICA MEARES story MEGAN HAND

Mary Frances Edgemon is not your runof-the mill college junior, communications major, or sorority girl. If anything, she is the complete opposite—but in a good way! Mary Frances is the president of the Kennesaw Pride Alliance at KSU. For those of you out of the loop, the Pride Alliance focuses specifically on Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender (LGBT) relations at KSU. Her involvement with the movement is heartwarming to say the least and inspiring for those of us who have ever had a goal that required real courage to pursue.

Her successes with the Kennesaw Pride Alliance include: creating an LGBT Resource Center on campus, running oncampus book clubs, and installing gender-neutral bathrooms at KSU. Furthermore, she is a representative of the Safe Space Committee, which is designed to train school faculty to assist LGBT students who may need someone to confide in. (How do you know your professor is a member of the Safe Space Committee? He or she will have a sticker on her office door).

Besides the obvious attributes mentioned earlier, what really and truly distinguishes Mary Frances from the everyday LGBT activist? Oh, she always wears heels, of course! As for the most surprising characteristic of Mary Frances, she is not only a sorority member but a very active one. When asked how her sorority sisters respond to her involvement in the LGBT movement, she said, for the most part, they have been great! After “outing” herself to her sorority, she noticed many of her sisters coming out of the woodwork to support her. They wanted to support Mary Frances with her efforts in KPA. One of her sisters even created a witty slogan, “Straight but not Narrow,” to display on her dorm door.

Was there an element of fear keeping Mary Frances out of the LGBT movement up until her freshman year of college? Absolutely. The KPA president describes half of herself as an “angry lesbian,” thirty five percent total sweetheart, and fifteen percent completely terrified. She does not deny that there is completely too much hate in the world trying to burst her bubble. Being an “out” member of the gay community is a huge risk to Mary Frances; it could mean a reduction of income, risk of sexual assault, or even as Mary Frances puts it, a “street side funeral.”

Most commonly, it can create second-class citizens, but this girl has a plan to stop it. She wants to drastically improve LGBT relations all over the country, but specifically on our college campus. Her primary goal for the LGBT community at KSU: Pave a fearless road of acceptance so that LGBT members can enjoy college…without the closet.

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ones to watch

A pril Oliphant

photography & story JOSIAH HUTCHINSON

She’s smart, sexy, and funny. She’s nerdy, talented, and passionate.

She’s April Oliphant, and she’s blowing my mind. Forget your expectations about what a 21 year old model is like, because April defies them all. Currently in her third year at Kennesaw State University, she is hard at work as a Public Relations student and bartender at Atlanta Country Club, and also models for fashion photography as a hobby.

She’s a busy girl, and it took a lot of schedule sorting to find time to sit down with her.

We’re sitting under the patio at Starbucks and it’s pouring down rain. Her poor dog Crazyface (ok, the dog’s real name is Lilly, but she lovingly calls her Crazyface) is curled up under her seat, trying and failing to stay dry, occasionally looking up at us with wide, whimsical eyes. The umbrella over the table barely shields us from the deluge, but the miserable weather can’t

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damper our conversation. From Harry Potter to fashion photography, Sinatra to the function of religion in the modern world, there is no topic to light or too heavy for us to cover. April is a girl of opinions but an understanding one too, and she has the knowledge to defend her thoughts.

She describes the outfit she wore to Dragon*Con this year, a Jessica Rabbit costume she made herself.

We discuss the outrageousness of Lady Gaga’s fashion experiments, and she tells me about the great styles coming out of the student designers at the Savannah College of Art And Design. While telling me about an uplifting encounter she recently had with a homeless person in Atlanta, she emphasizes the importance of her Christian high school education in shaping who she is today. “Everybody needs something to believe in,” she says.

Raised in Newnon by two hard-

ones to watch

working but nurturing parents, April is blessed with a sense of passion and industriousness for anything she sets her mind to. Her grandmother also played a large role in April’s early life, serving as her art teacher and giving her a love for all the different forms of art. That love is still alive deep inside her today; she is a recreational painter and she has modeling for photographer Alan Beazanson. Despite her talent and taste, she confides to me that she’s always seen herself as an appreciator of art more than a creator of art.

April plans to put her Public Relations degree to good use, hopefully securing a job with Feld Entertainment, the corporation responsible for lucrative acts like Disney on Ice and the Ringling Brothers Circus. She hopes to own and operate her own entertainment agency one day. Armed with the entrepreneurial prowess of her father and the dedicated work ethic of her mother, there’s very little this young woman can’t accomplish.

Time passes fast when you’re in good company. Before we know it, the rain has stopped and she has to leave to attend a LAN Party with her boyfriend. Not the most typical activity for a college-age girl, but April Oliphant is full of surprises.

TAravis llen

photography & story JOHN DEFOOR

Kennesaw State University has had many remarkable people over the past several years: brilliant students, amazing athletes, and great performers. But did you know that KSU is also home to a student CEO? Meet Travis Allen, a well known “iPad geek,” a college sophomore, and most notably, a CEO of his own company: iSchool Initiative. iSchool Initiative is a non-profit group devoted to the advancement of technology for education.

As the name implies, this advancement is mostly through the use of Apple products such as the iPad and the iPod Touch with Apple’s third party applications or apps.

Travis’s company wishes to advance education tools while lowering costs for schools and students. iSchool is student led, giving a unique student perspective. They look at educational apps and give ratings to filter out the good apps from the not so good ones.

iSchool Initiative’s beginning came Travis’ high school senior year as a Christmas gift: an iPhone.

Amazed by all the school related applications Travis realized, “I need to do something with this.” He created a YouTube video to show off some of his favorite applications.

This video had a huge response, receiving over 20,000 views so far.

With Travis entering college, iSchool expanded. With the help of six students from a Management 3100 class, Travis and crew created the “10 Apps You Can’t Graduate Without” seminar. Following the end of the semester, each of the six students became full-time members of iSchool.

Some remarkable apps include the AWC (Achievable Writing Center), apps which help students write essays or research papers. These apps function very similar to KSU’s writing center, with live writing assistants for help as you write. Other

helpful apps include “Star Walk” to see all the constellations, “Chemical Touch,” a periodic table, and a Piano App. There is even an app for deaf children that takes spoken words and translates them into text.

Currently, iSchool has 13 employees.

In the next year they plan on taking the “10 Apps You Can’t Graduate Without” seminar to various schools all over America, starting in Salt Lake City. Travis has previously given a presentation for Apple in FL, for student perspective on the Apple products. This September he plans to go back as a consultant. As side jobs, Travis makes tutorial videos for companies along with social media consulting and internal management.

To learn more about Travis Allen’s iSchool Initiative, check out: ischoolinitiative.com.

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ones to watch

Jenny Sparks

photography & story JOHN DEFOOR

Some people know exactly what career they want follow the rest of their lives. Unfortunately many others, including myself, worry about their major and whether they will be happy after graduation. The great fear: graduating, then returning to school for a different degree. However when I worry about my major and my future, I think of my friend Jenny Sparks and how everything fell together for her.

Jenny graduated from the Uni-

versity of Alabama with a bachelor’s degree in dance and a minor in English. Now she has returned to school at KSU for a degree in Secondary English Education.

Like most girls, Jenny imaged herself growing up to be a ballerina.

She took dance lessons from age two till her high school graduation.

Naturally she decided Dance was her destined major. However shortly after her first year at Alabama, Jenny hurt her knee in ballet.

“I did a jump and came down.”

Jenny had to have full knee reconstructive surgery. At this point she realized this sort of thing could happen again. Where would she be if she couldn’t dance? She claims this moment “had everything to do with making me who I am.” Regardless Jenny still wanted to complete her dance major, because she still loved dance.

After physical therapy, Jenny received a phone call from the owner of a dance studio in Gadsden, AL, even though she had not applied

there. Soon thereafter, Jenny was hired on as a dance teacher for high schoolers.

She was nervous at first: “I was scared they would eat me alive.”

Fortunately the kids were great and Jenny loved teaching there, “Because you get to see people grow up. I feel like I had a hand in helping them.”

Jenny graduated from UA in 2008 and moved to the Atlanta area to work at the Axis Dance Center. She taught there for two years before she realized she wanted to go back to school. She had really enjoyed her English classes in college.

Furthermore she loved teaching students. Why not combine the two things she loved?

Jenny plans to graduate Spring 2011, this time in Secondary English Education. And she couldn’t be happier with her decision. As for dance, Jenny still teaches and hopes to perhaps teach a middle or high school’s dance team in the future.

Audrey Ruark

photography PETER NORVELL story MEGAN HAND

ones to watch It’s not very often that you meet a 20 year old who successfully balances a full-time school schedule, work, and being in charge of the ONE campaign at KSU. During her freshman year at KSU, Audrey Ruark enrolled in a ONE themed learning community where she learned a great deal about the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

One day, a guest speaker named Karen Heilman came to the class to discuss ONE and passed around an interest sign-up sheet. From that

point on, Audrey was totally and completely sold on the ONE campaign. Audrey has become one of the most influential members with ONE at KSU. She organizes university-wide events and speaks to classes. She is the Regional College Organizer, meaning she works with other schools in Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana to promote ONE. “ONE works closely with policy experts, African leaders and antipoverty activists to mobilize public opinion in support of tested and proven methods for tackling poverty,” says Audrey. The ONE director describes her greatest success with ONE as the legislative acts that have been enacted due to the hard work and determination displayed by her team.

Audrey is particularly interested in the ONE Campus Challenge—an annual nationwide competition among colleges and universities where students earn points by engaging in social activism. Through OCC, students have lobbied on Capitol Hill, established ONE Chapters on their campuses, held World AIDS Day events, and partnered with other nonprofits and charities to raise campus awareness about global poverty. Audrey believes the future of the ONE campaign at KSU is extraordinarily promising; members, volunteers, and even nonstudents have stepped up to the challenge to fight the battles that Audrey Ruark and her team are so passionate about.

Check out www.ksutalon.com for MORE about “Ones to Watch”

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Regel Jackson

story & photography RYAN PATRICK SCHILL

The guitar case is propped up against our table safely away from the possibility of spilled drinks and damage.

The waitress’s eyes keep darting over to it as she talks to us. Other customers stare at it as they move through the restaurant. This guitar case has a commanding presence.

The owner of the guitar case (and the guitar inside) is sitting in a chair beside it looking completely unconcerned. Regel Jackson is outwardly at ease and seemingly unburdened by any anxieties from carrying a guitar case into a sports bar on a busy Sunday afternoon.

Once you have stood in front of a class of 5th graders and demanded their attention, little things like this do not stress you out.

Regel is in his final year at KSU as a history education major, which means he spends most of his time student teaching with all eyes on him. After school, he gives guitar lessons. He is a busy man, but he do not look stressed; he looks like a man who is savoring the air conditioning after too much time outside in heat, which is exactly what he is.

In hindsight, a photo shoot outside in 100-degree weather, in a park with no shade, was perhaps not my most inspired idea. So we sought refuge where guys often do: in a sports bar. Regel was worried about the effects of the heat on his very beautiful guitar and so the guitar joined us inside.

If it is so hot that you wouldn’t leave your dog in the car then it isn’t safe for your guitar, and Regel takes this very seriously. You see, this is what makes Regel interesting: he is a teacher but he also plays classical guitar. ` What began as a gateway into studying music in college became something more. Regel was sucked in by the technical challenges presented by classical playing and the fullness of the sound he could create—“the ability to be a solo orchestra,” as he put it.

His passion for teaching manifested when he began giving guitar lessons. He began to see his path and is now committed to teaching in Cobb County and developing a lifelong career.

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ones to watch THINKSTOCK

ones to watch

Emron Esplin

story RICHIE ESSENBURG

Dr. Emron Esplin is an Assistant Professor of English and American Studies here at KSU. You may take one of his World Literature classes for general education, but Emron (as he prefers to be addressed by his students) also teaches some courses you may not even know are offered here. Some of those include Latino/a literatures, Greater Mexico, and Edgar Allan Poe and La Plata.

In several ways, these classes are a completely new addition to the curricula altogetherThough there are many professors that have an international or global focus at KSU, Emron adds particularly interesting twist insofar as the subject matter of his classes and the different approaches he takes.

First, a little back-story and his credentials are necessary to understand his area of research and what he teaches in the classroom. Emron obtained his Doctorate in English at Michigan State University with an emphasis in Inter-American literature.

He also received a Doctoral minor in Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

When I asked Emron about the nature of his research and focus of some of his classes he said that, “All of the scholarship I do I would fit under the umbrella of Inter-American literary studies.

What that means is that I’m trying to create conversations between writers, literatures, and histories from throughout the Americas. Outside of US literature and history, I am trained, particularly in Mexican and other Latin American areas.”

As a part of both American Studies and English, Emron’s work and teaching style often take a number of different approaches and look at issues through several lenses. An interdisciplinary approach is often taken in American Studies, and Emron describes, more specifically, how he does it: “I do take a ‘historical’ approach, often and like to discover new common threads while still appreciated the differences between, say, the U.S. South and Mexico. The current project I am working on now, for instance, is on Edgar Allan Poe and Spanish America, particularly Poe and the LaPlata region.”

The subject matter covered in one of Emron’s classes are diverse and introduce several new ideas that you may have never even imagined before. When asked about some of these new subjects and issues he said, “My primary goal in my teaching is that I want to help students divorce the word “America” from the national marker of the United States. By saying that I’m not trying to be unpatriotic, what I’m trying to do is help student see that the United States of America is a nation-state; it is a construct that has been created, just as Mexico—that every time we say America when we mean the U.S. we are misspeaking, we’re inaccurate. So in my teaching and in my research I’m trying to help students shift this term from a national term to a hemispheric term.”

So what makes Emron Esplin so interesting? Just for starters, he is a more recent addition to the faculty here at KSU, bringing with him new perspective, and new subject matter for our student brains to take on!

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ones to watch

Jessica Hain

photography BRITTANY GRANTIZ & MEGHAN DE ST. AUBIN story MEGHAN DE ST. AUBIN

Everyone wants to be a photographer these days. It is a common interest among college students, especially ones who are working day jobs to fulfill, eventually, their dreams that may or may not happen. This was exactly what senior Jessica Hain did at her past job at Wolf Camera.

She and a coworker were standing around one day, toying with the image of a business they could start. Her co-worker had been teaching classes at Wolf Camera and she already had knowledge from her schooling that allowed them to form the perfect team. This is how Photo Teaching Adventures began, right smack dab in the middle of a camera shop.

Jessica and her partner formed the business with next to nothing and bits of their own money. They used the money they had to pay for a website and business cards. There was absolutely no money lost in the operation, thankfully, due to the customers who took their classes. Photo Teaching Adventures is geared towards folks wanting to learn more about their SLR cameras. Jessica takes people to locations such as The Atlanta Botanical Gardens, Zoo Atlanta, Callaway Gardens and the North Georgia mountains. Affordable rates are what separate these informative classes from all the rest.

“We really try to make conversation with our students and joke around with them,” says Jessica. Being a small business owner at this tender college age can be challenging, but she insists that she enjoys it. This good humored Fine Arts major is comfortably eccentric and different from many of her peers.

Her ambition doesn’t stop at Photo Teaching Adventures. She participates in a lot of charity work and a photography club. For a college senior, she is using all the resources available to her.

She volunteers for photo work whenever she can, no matter how minimal, and she has found that this is a great way to advertise her business.

Photo Teaching Adventures is a great opportunity for students to learn from photo experts like Jessica Hain. Even if they forget the techniques, they learn during the course, and they come away with a ton of great pictures. Jessica and her partner are always open to suggestions about new locations. She intends to further this business as long as she is still living in the Atlanta area. The adventure continues and Jessica Hain is more than ready to go along for the ride.

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ones to watch

Justin Ridgeway story KATE BOCKHORST

Although he has not always had the acting bug, Justin Ridgeway is an up and coming actor with many credentials. A transfer student, this will be Justin’s first semester at KSU, but he is in his junior year of his college career. His interest in film originated in a class he took at Gordon College where he received his associate’s degree. While there, he was required to take a humanities class and he also opted to take a film class as an elective. This class got him interested in films and acting. This jump-started that began his career.

He initially starred in several commercials and local programs. In 2007, he decided to make a feature film called Disintegration. He not only starred in the film but was the producer as well. Several of his associates took the film to the Cannes Film Festival that year and sold it for a decent profit. It is currently available on Netflix.

In 2008, he made a short feature film entitled Trip to Florida. It was shot in black and white and based on a real life story in the 1970’s. The plot is about a couple with nothing in common that happen to own a fishpond.

The husband goes down every summer to check on the pond and restock it with fish.

The husband finally invites his wife to come along on the trip.

When they get in the car to start their travel the wife falls asleep, and the husband thinks to himself that if she is going to sleep the whole time he would be better off not taking her along. That night the wife gets upset and ends up shooting her husband to death. The film won Best Film Award at GCSU. Justin says he enjoys working in front of the camera, and behind it as well. And with this low budget project, he was forced to be assistant director and lighting and sound coordinator. Ridgeway says, “ I have a greater appreciation for the behind the scenes people after personally doing it myself.” When asked if acting is his main interest, Justin responds by saying that school is his main focus and priority.

He said, “I think an education goes a long way and it is always a good thing to fall back on. Acting will always be there.” Currently he is working on a new project and recently shot an episode with a plot similar to the old twilight zone shows. The future is bright and endless if Justin continues to strive to be the best actor and student he can be.

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ones to watch

ones to watch

people to know

By Randy Howard

Annie teaches dance at Broadway in Alpharetta. Her and her boyfriend Josh are both theater majors.In his spare time, Josh loves to rock climb and play African drums.

Kimberly Ducasse Kimberly is a transfer student that loves to write and is currently working for the Sentinel . She uses writing as a creative way to release her thoughts and feelings!

A nnie&Power Josh Brooks Talon Magazine 18

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ones to watch

ones to watch

Brian Obleton Brian’s a KSU Alumn that now works as a Program Coordinator for Multicultural Student Retention Service.

He and a friend began an organization on campus five years ago called Distinguished Black Gentlemen.

when he “said he “noticed the number of African American males declined from year to year so we wanted to make sure there was a support system for them” !

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Kelly Murphy “Express your body by expressively painting it,” says Kelly Murphy.

This drawing major was inspired to paint her plastered body parts after asking herself “Do you have a body or are you your body?”

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Q&A

Q&A

Q&A

with Diane

Lane & Randall Wallace

Staff Writer Megan Hand gets a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to interview actress Diane Lane and director Randall Wallace about their Disney flick “Secretariat.”

Everybody loves a winner. Secretariat, the new Disney film set to hit theatres Oct. 8, is evident of this claim.

Starring acclaimed actors such as Diane Lane and John Malkovich, the film follows the true story of Penny Chenery (played by Lane), an ambitious housewife bent-upon saving her wealthy, dying father’s stable from financial ruin. To achieve her goal, Chenery goes to great lengths to train and develop an award-winning racehorse named Secretariat.

With Lane: Q: Your role in this film is very similar to that of Sandra Bullock in the Blindside. She finds someone in need and goes to great lengths to develop that individual into something great.

A: Yes, I have heard that before. I think the main difference, though, is that in The Blindside, Sandra’s Bullock’s character was doing what she did out of kindness.

With this film, the focus is less on an act of kindness and more on survival. There was great risk involved with what the characters were doing.

Q: Risk for Penny or Secretariat or whom?

A: Well, everyone really. Penny put her marriage on the line to save her father’s stables from ruin, and then of course Secretariat had a heart triple the size of a normal race horse and each race could have killed him.

Q: Was it difficult for you playing Penny Chenery, someone so different from who you are as a person? Or is she even so different?

A: You know, Penny is neat in real life. She’s humble, grateful, but at the same time, she’s confident. I guess she’s not different from me, really. And it also made it a lot easier for me because she graced us with her presence on set; we were able to consult with her. But what you don’t see from the film is that Penny had competed in the Kentucky Derby the year before with a different horse.

Q: So is the film not an accurate portrayal of what really happened?

A: What the film shows is accurate, it is. It’s more inaccurate in what it did not include. ‘Surreal’ is the correct word for the film.

Walt Disney Pictures

Q: As the leading lady in the film, what do you think is the main theme?

A: *long sigh* Everybody loves a winner. It’s always a plus knowing you’re going to have a sensation of victory. The ‘win’ part was a sure thing, but as far as a theme is concerned, it’s more about the challenge of the human backstory.

Q: What was the most difficult part for you in doing this film?

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A: You know, I have always been around horses, so I thought there would be a natural sense of comfort for me while playing Penny, and there was. *slight giggle* My idea of a vacation as a kid growing up in Manhattan would be to share a room with a horse in a barn. But the truth is, I had to become braver than I would choose to be. I call it ‘equine therapy.’ A large part of the film involved me getting in touch with my zen and letting everything become the horse’s idea.

Q: What’s it like doing a Disney film?

A: There’s a level of expectation for the end result.

You have to be very specific when you slap the Disney brand on something. For example, the idea of the “perfect marriage”. Let’s just say I’m glad Penny waited as long as she did, and that’s all I will say about that.

Q: How is it working with John Malkovich?

A: Oh, he is lovely. He’s such a Renaissance man; he even taught me how to cook Moroccan food!

Q: And what about Randall Wallace?

A: He’s a very unique individual, and he has a heart the size of Secretariat’s. He has x-ray vision into the archetype of how he wanted to see this movie; he has a dynamic view of what’s happening.

Also interviewed was the director of the film, Randall Wallace. Wallace has directed movies such as Braveheart, Pearl Harbor and We Were Soldiers.

With Wallace: Q: You usually do war movies, but Secretariat is certainly not a war movie. What made you want to direct this film?

A: I get asked this quite frequently, and I always say the same thing: I don’t do war movies. The movies I direct are stories of courage, honor and love. Really, the only difference is the clothing. In Secretariat, the end result is glory. I could even go so far as to say that I do love stories. For me as a director, I want to know what someone loves enough to sacrifice for because that’s really what love ultimately is.

Q: Secretariat has been given the title of “inspirational sports films” which are common among Disney movies.

Was this a difficult concept for you to grasp in any way?

A: The whole idea of ‘genre’ makes me feel smothered. Early on, people were calling Secretariat so many things: chick film, family film. It has never been any of those things. I want to think, and I want the audience to think, of Secretariat as an iconic film. I want this story to speak across all boundaries. My ultimate feeling of

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Q&A A: I really, really fought for them. I did not want to direct a movie without top talent. There would not have been that heightened sense of emotion without absolute top talent.

Q: Did you get a sense of defeminization from the film?

The film seemed to display role reversal. Lane’s character left the home for weeks on end to conduct business while her husband stayed at home taking care of the children, and a large part of the movie focuses on her husband’s frustration about his wife rarely being home.

A: That’s a very poetic question. I’ve never been asked that before! Look, as a man, you meet Penny Chenery and you want to ask her out on a date. She’s incredibly charismatic, but as you know, women are about more than just mechanics. Technically, you could apply the idea of defeminization to Penny’s role with her father. She spoke of her father with such love; she never thought of it as a role reversal. With Diane playing Penny, it was like putting a gentle cover on top of a steel cover, but that’s essentially what women are. Correct me if I’m wrong, but there is one thing every woman wants. Women don’t care about being understood, but they want to be in control. They want to walk into a room and control it. A real woman knows what she wants and is willing to sacrifice for it. Really, racehorses are like women; you can try all you want to, but you will never really understand them, and they like that.

Diane Lane at the 2010 premiere of her husband’s Josh Brolin, movie “Jonah Hex.” victory as a director is to see the men in the audience cheering and weeping; to see men identify as the hero in the film and to see women identify with Secretariat.

Q: I spoke to Diane Lane earlier who says that the movie was only inaccurate in what it did not show. Do you agree?

A: Yes, there were certain things that we chose to omit from the film because we didn’t want to take away from the feeling of victory that the audience walks away with.

The story itself is true; we didn’t fabricate any of that.

But there are certain parts of the movie that we added to heighten the viewers’ awareness of how Penny feels towards this struggle. For example, the scene in the barn where Penny is staring into the horses eyes. Did that actually happen? We will never know, but it was a great way of helping the audience to truly understand how Penny felt and how Secretariat was feeling too.

Q: What was it about Diane Lane and John Malkovich that made you want them for the roles of Penny and Lucien?

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Q: And do you think Penny’s husband was portrayed as this non-understanding figure who still had respect for his wife?

A: I’ll tell you my greatest victory in this film---the light in which Penny and her husband are ultimately portrayed.

He tells her that she had taught their children something he could have never taught them. As a divorcee, the number one thing you want to hear from a former partner is that there is still mutual respect.

Q: This film: fiction? non-fiction? How do you classify it?

A: The film is a combination of memory and desire.

Secretariat is truly an iconic film. The message spans across all ages, all races, and both genders, horse fans and those who do not know the first thing about climbing on a saddle. When you see this movie, perhaps your heart will be rooting for Penny, or maybe you will simply want to see Secretariat become everything his 20-pound heart desires. Either way, you are going to walk away with a feeling of contentment because regardless of who you are or where you came from, everybody loves a winner.- Megan Hand