living without an...
volume FOUR / FALL / 2012
six weeks on the open road nature and nurture the avett brothers sweet, sweet potato on finding yourself...30,000 feet in the air
Š 2012 Off Switch Magazine All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the editor. Inquiries can be sent to the editor at: info@offswitchmagazine.com www.offswitchmagazine.com Printed in the USA by MagCloud.com Publication Design: Katie Michels Cover photo: Bryan and Mae
living without an...
“Lessons Learned�
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off switch magazine
table of contents
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contributors
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welcome
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through my lens – silhouettes
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Fall reads
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The Avett Brothers
Memorex Memories
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Nature and Nurture
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Six weeks on the open road
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St. Olaf Ghosts
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Meet: Gabriella Ganugi
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On Finding Yourself...20,000 Feet in the air
40 before 20
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The Most Important Things
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To Kenya, With Love
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An INterview About Love
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Sweet, Sweet Potato
table of contents
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katie michels editor-in-chief, designer, photographer, writer offswitchblog.com
anna klenke copyeditor, writer elbowpatches-annaklenke.blogspot.com
brittany austin writer brittanyaustin08.blogspot.com
Bryan and mae photographers, writer bryanandmae.net
Jennifer Dees illustrator livingcminca.blogspot.com
meg fee writer or-so-i-feel.blogspot.com
Kara Haupt photographer, writer ijustmightexplode.com
Whitney Johnson & Dave Tuttle photographers hisampersandhers.com
Jonathan Canlas Photography photographer jonathancanlasphotography.com
James Kicinski-McCoy photographer bleubirdblog.com
Diana La Counte writer ourcitylights.org
Julia Manchik illustrator mrmrsglobetrot.blogspot.com
Caroline Nitz writer cisforcaroline.wordpress.com
Nirav Patel photographer niravphotography.com
Kristin Rogers photographer kristinrogersphotography.com
Jaquilyn and Travis Shumate photographers jaquilynshumate.com
Melissa Tydell writer inspirationandroughdrafts.com
David Weiss photographer davidandreweiss.com
Haley Withers photographer, writer haleyinwonderland.blogspot.com
Heather Zweig photographer heatherzweig.com
interested in submitting to off switch magazine? Visit our website or blog to see the themes for our upcoming issues and view the Off Switch Mag Submission Guidelines document.
websites: offswitchmagazine.com / offswitchblog.com email: info@offswitchmagazine.com 3
contributors
Welcome to the fourth volume of Off Switch Magazine! With this particular adventure into the world of printed quarterlies we are focusing on the topic of “lessons learned.” What does it mean to be an educator in the 21st century? What does it mean to be a student of the classroom— and of life in general? Big or small, good or bad, life throws us situations and circumstances that— while requiring effort and grace—will help us to become better people. The point is, we are all learning, and we are all teaching... all the time. In the process of putting together this volume I have learned countless things about starting a business, how to manage stress, and decision making. But most of all I’ve learned about myself. I’ve learned—for the umpteenth time—that I am capable of far more than I realize. We all are. We all have the potential to be the best we can be. And we have the potential to push our own boundaries to see where our vision takes us. Remember that once a lesson is learned, the book isn’t closed on the subject. Learn, relearn, fail, and learn again. Whatever you do, don’t stop.
founder & editor-in-chief
Welcome
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through my lens each issue a theme is chosen, photographers are gathered, and images are submitted...all for the love of photography. the following pages are filled with photos of silhouettes, a theme that alludes to both mystery and romance. perfectly fitting for the fall season and upcoming halloween holiday, we think.
{theme}
silhouettes
DABITO oldbrandnewblog.com
Through My Lens
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Elias and Theresa Carlson orangejuice-etc.com
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Nirav Patel niravphotography.com
Through My Lens
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Jaquilyn and Travis Shumate jaquilynshumate.com
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Beth Murphy mrsbethmurphy.com
Through My Lens
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Jacqueline Jaszka jacquelinejaszka.com
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9 With smart phones and smart phone photography becoming more and more commonplace, we thought it only appropriate to share some Instagram silhouette photos with our readers.
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If you like what you see, we encourage you to download the free app and follow these photographer’s Instagram feeds!
1, 2, 3, 7: @niravphotography | 4, 6, 11: @alinatsvor | 5, 10: @dabito 8: @fishsticked | 9: @dreapomegranates
Through My Lens
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FALL READS text: anna klenke illustrations: julia manchik
Wow, I had no idea when I penned the Summer Reads column a few months ago that we were going to be in for such a long, hot summer! Laying outside by the pool (or inside by the air conditioner!) was great, but I’ll admit that I’m looking forward to the cooler days of fall when I can curl up with a sweater and a good book. Here are a few of my top picks for the crisp autumn months ahead.
Empire Falls (2002) by Richard Russo Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo is known for his ability to build evocative, convincing small towns and the blue-collar characters who live in them, and Empire Falls shows him at the height of his narrative powers. In this novel, greasy spoon proprietor Miles Roby can hardly believe that he is still stuck in the town of his childhood, where nothing ever changes (for the better, at least). But no matter how many times Miles goes over the events of his life in his head and wishes that things had turned out differently, he always ends up right back in Empire Falls. In the midst of an unpleasant divorce and stuck in the town that he couldn’t wait to leave, the only bright spots in Miles’s life are his teenage daughter, Tick…and his wish that she will manage to do what he couldn’t—to leave Empire Falls and move on to bigger and better things. It seems, however, that Tick may have a different idea for her future. Russo’s masterful storytelling and gift for bringing subtle characters to life allows you to walk into the Empire Grill right along with Miles, and makes reading Empire Falls feel as familiar as having dinner with old friends—a pastime you happily return to over and over again. Wild (2012) by Cheryl Strayed Chances are you’ve heard of this memoir already, what with it being the inspiration for Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 and all. But just in case you were in doubt, I wanted to reaffirm that Wild really is an amazing book, and definitely deserves all the hype. And the cover is perfect! After her mother’s death, 26-year-old Cheryl Strayed finds herself unmoored. She moves around the country from place to place and eventually decides to leave everything and everyone in her life behind and hike the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), a 2,650-mile long path that runs from
Mexico to Canada in the western part of the United States. Strayed is completely unprepared for the hardships that the trail presents. Her pack is nearly too heavy for her to lift; her boots are a size too small and mangle her feet within days; and the daily grind of life on the trail is nearly too much for her. Nevertheless, she presses on, meeting trail buddies, battling wildlife, and healing herself along the way. Although most of the action in this memoir revolves around Strayed’s life on the PCT, we also learn about her rough childhood, the love she has for her mother, and the despair that drove her to risky promiscuity and drug addiction. Strayed’s journey is more than physical; it is mental and emotional as well, and those undercurrents are the threads that truly bind us to her and make us root for her to come out on top. Wild will appeal to anyone yearning for adventure, or looking for solace. Oprah neatly sums up the message of the book in an interview with Strayed: “Being courageous is feeling the fear and doing the scary thing anyway.” MWF Seeking BFF (2011) by Rachel Bertsche Rachel Bertsche has tons of friends—in the city where she went to school, back in her hometown, and dotted across the globe. But when Bertsche and her husband move to Chicago together, she realizes that she really doesn’t have any friends in the Windy City… so she decides to make some. Turns out that making friends is tougher than Bertsche expected. Where do you meet potential friends? How can you ask another girl out on a friend date without seeming like a stalker? Bertsche asks for friend recommendations, joins clubs, and tries striking up conversation in public places in the search for a new BFF. She even puts an ad in the local paper and ultimately meets over 50 women in hopes of making new friends. With her husband as her cheerleader, Bertsche faces up to her social anxieties and confronts the idea
Fall Reads
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that actively searching for friendship is somehow different than joining an online dating site or going on blind dates. In the end, while she doesn’t necessarily end up with the soul mate/best friend for life that she had hoped for, Bertsche walks away from her experiment with dozens of casual acquaintances, several close friends, and a much better idea of the importance of friendship. Sometimes hilarious, sometimes excruciatingly awkward, MWF Seeking BFF is a great read for any girl who has wondered if she has enough friends and where she can find some more. Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) by Ray Bradbury In honor of Ray Bradbury, who passed away on June 5th of this year, I’d like to feature one of my all-time favorite autumn books and a masterpiece of modern Gothic literature, Something Wicked This Way Comes. James Nightshade and William Halloway are thrilled when a carnival comes to their small Midwestern town of Green Lake, Illinois, just as school starts up in the fall. But Cooper & Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show offers more than fun and thrills beneath its enormous striped tents. The two boys become acquainted with several members of the “freak show”: the tattooed “illustrated man,” the blind gypsy witch, and the murderous dwarf, and they investigate the sinister carousel that is supposedly broken. When strange occurrences start happening in connection with the carnival, James and William realize that it is up to them to save their town from the forces of evil. Their battle inside the dark carnival is the stuff of nightmares, and Bradbury’s sense of the macabre goes behind the trappings of witches and werewolves into a plane at once more subtle and scarier—perfect for a dusky fall evening or Halloween read.
On Writing (2000) by Stephen King Half memoir, half book about writing, Stephen King’s On Writing provides a glimpse into the mega-author’s personal life as well as his thoughts on the craft of writing novels. King starts out recounting anecdotes from his childhood, much of which he spent writing science fiction stories and producing his own magazine using a typewriter and mimeograph. He collected the dozens of rejection notes he received from magazines and publishers and moaned over the fact that his work would never be published, but never stopped hoping to get his big break. Eventually, his first story, “I Was a Teenage Graverobber,” gets picked up by a horror magazine, much to his delight. King also shares detailed stories about his family and his adolescent escapades. His accounts of growing up in a poor family are relatable for anyone who was raised in a less-thanaffluent household, and the stories he tells about his adventures in writing and in life are often screamingly funny. The second half of the book may be more interesting to aspiring writers than to the general public, but King’s honest narrative voice and pervasive sense of humor keeps the pace moving, even for those with no interest in becoming writers themselves. Here, he buckles down and gives no-nonsense advice about the nuts and bolts, day-to-day life of writing and how he personally operates as a writer. He also addresses the drug addiction that nearly destroyed his life, and the terrifying accident that inspired him to get clean. On Writing is a must-read for anyone who has ever thought about putting pen to paper in a creative fashion. Despite sometimes being known as a hack writer whose books contain little thought or effort, King takes his craft—but not himself—very seriously.
Fall Reads
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THE AVETT BROTHERS A thoughtful and compelling Interview with one member of the popular bluegrass Band
interview: Meg Fee photo: Crackerfarm
I recently read that we each have one artist for whom words fail. One musician or band that when attempting to describe just why it is their music resonates with us, words alone just don’t do it. Because their work is too true, too good, we can do nothing but stutter and grope and offer up the music itself as both penance and explanation. For me The Avett Brothers are that band. But because my job here has something to do with words and making sense with them let me preface what follows with this: on September 11th The Avett Brothers will release their sixth studio album. Get it. Listen to it. That is the truest and most important thing I can say, anything beyond that is just me waxing poetic and attempting to explain something that must be experienced to be understood. It was their lyrics that I first took note of. I was on a film set where Paranoia in B-Flat Major played again and again and the actor in me was struck by the economy of their language—simple yet expansive. Their ability to cut to the immediate truth of an experience. I still marvel at the placement of the two little “ands” in I and Love and You—the “ands” there giving the words room to breathe. Yes it was the breath and breadth of the mostly monosyllabic, extraordinarily percussive words that wooed me. But it was the tension between the brothers’ voices—the space that arose in their perfectly discordant harmonies—that crawled under my skin and stuck. And yes, I do mean that in the best possible way. The imperfection of the music and the sort of flagrant honesty that erupts from that makes the band, in my humble opinion, one of the very best playing today. Led by Seth and Scott Avett, the band consists of Bob Crawford on the stand-up bass, Joe Kwon on cello, and the relatively new addition of Jacob Edwards on drums. Seth was kind enough to speak to me about what it means to be an artist when you think your darkness is worse than everyone else’s, and what he’d tell his 20-year-old self.
The Avett Brothers
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