Hunter & YOLO plus Andy Mckee | Topeka Magazine spring 2015 by Sunflower Publishing

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Maga z i n e

spring 2015 vol 9 no. 2

Editor Nathan Pettengill designer/Art Director

Jenni Leiste

Jason Dailey

chief Photographer

COPY EDITOR

Deron Lee

advertising Teresa Johnson-Lewis representative (785) 832-7109

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contributing Bill Stephens Photographer Contributing Writers

Linda A. Ditch Carolyn Kaberline Eric McHenry Nick Spacek Bill Stephens Barbara Waterman-Peters

GENERAL MANAGER

Bert Hull

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Katy Ibsen

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from the

editor

city of ...

So … “Capital City of Fun.” That is, of course, the new slogan adopted by city tourism and business officials—a rebranding designed specifically to underline the numerous events and regular attractions in Topeka. The slogan has a point. Topeka is more than a political gathering spot for the rest of the state. It offers visitors a range of attractions throughout the year. In our nine years of publication, we’ve never been at a loss to cover a new festival or longtime city tradition that we, the public, can enjoy. In this spring edition, we feature an event for each month of the season and recommend 10 others—only the tip of the iceberg for opportunities to get out and discover the city. It is important for the economy and image of Topeka to highlight happenings in the city, but we also have a mission in our pages to feature everyday life. In this edition, for example, we talk with musician Andy McKee about balancing global fame and the rewards of raising a family; we follow young equestrian Hunter Holloway and her horse through their demanding training program; we meet a hardworking restaurant family that gathers for some downtime in their home kitchen; and we talk with a former pastor and his wife who radically changed their lives to improve the conditions in some of the world’s poorest, least sanitary communities. This everyday life might not be the hallmark of “fun,” nor a lure for tourists. But when everyday life is dedicated to a meaning and purpose, it becomes the core of life. It’s bigger than fun. We hope the stories in these pages inspire you in fulfilling what gives your life meaning. And when you need a break … give Topeka the benefit of the doubt and seek out some fun in the Kansas capital. It won’t be hard to find.

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- Nathan Pettengill, Editor

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Spring 2015

spring 2015

what's inside

on THE cover

Hunter Holloway prepares her horse, YOLO, for a practice ride at her training grounds near Topeka.

The Durbin family stands together outside the Trash Mountain Project office in Topeka. Brett and Jaelle Durbin are founders of the Trash Mountain Project.

in ev ery iss u e:

what’s happening

features

46 Poppa McKee

Family time? Healthy eating? Inspiring tunes? Perhaps nobody told Andy McKee that a global music star should be all about sex, drugs and loud music? Or, just maybe, McKee knows best.

50 Hunter & YOLO

A local rider teams with her tall, spirited horse in their run for an Olympic gold medal

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Spring 2015

locale

The Happy Rooms

It might look square, but there’s a whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on in the Shehi house

topekans

‘From the Outside In’

Stephanie MuñozO’Neil’s long career embodies the best of teaching and creating art

Trash Mountain Project

Called by faith, a volunteer and his family create a global relief network for impoverished communities

Grave to Grave Coverage

Local “gravers” walk the city’s cemeteries on a mission to document the past

poetry pull-out

lost connection

Eric McHenry pens a tribute to vanishing pay phones

appetite

Holliday Tradition

For Deborah Barajas of Café Holliday, tamales are a family affair

A GreAt MArketinG tool for your Business

topeka talk letter to editor

top pick

I am writing to you regarding the cover image of your magazine (Volume IX/No. 1, Winter 14). The images we hold out to the world convey how we want to be seen and how we see ourselves. My question: Is this really the kind of image we want to represent our community now and going forward? In an age when we are daily confronted by the ravages of wanton gun violence, in this image we are waylaid by a man with his hand on his gun at the ready. Your choice of this image for your cover perpetuates stereotyped masculinity that blends guns and violence. So is this image good for Topeka? Is this how we want others to see us? If we want to be a community that is progressive socially then we need images that will convey that sense of ourselves. Our community deserves better images than this one. Thank you for your attention. Best regards, George Hough, Ph.D., ABPP We understand different readers will have different responses to the image of a cowboy and a gun. We think it is important to note the context of this photograph as part of a community-wide “Big Read” hosted by the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library and focusing on the novel True Grit. The Big Read allowed us to explore themes such as the legacy of the West, cowboys and firearms in the context of a fictional novel. Are the heroes of True Grit still heroes for our time? Is the historical firepower in the novel relevant today? These are questions that a reading of that text raises, allowing each of us to answer individually and as a community through the Big Read event. Nathan Pettengill, TM editor

Congratulations to supporters of the Military Veteran Project. Their group photo from our fall 2014 edition was voted by readers online as Topeka Magazine’s best cover image of the year.

coming up!

This May, look for the release of the annual SR Magazine, a joint publication of Topeka Magazine and the Jayhawk Area Agency on Aging. Complimentary copies will be available at the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library and the head office of Jayhawk Area Agency on Aging.

next edition ...

The Topeka Magazine summer 2015 edition will appear on June 5, with stories on two of the city’s favorite summer traditions, Fiesta Mexicana and Huff ’n’ Puff Balloon Rally, and much more.

[Note: Mr. Hough’s letter was condensed

for publication. We have posted his full letter on our Facebook site]

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Teresa Johnson-Lewis topekamagazine@sunflowerpub.com

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Spring 2015 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE

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Spring 2015 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE

Story by

Photography by

Linda A. Ditch

Jason Dailey

the

ABOUT THE WRITER

Happy Rooms

It might look square, but there’s a whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on in the Shehi house

Pat and Tom Shehi always have a reserved table at their inhome diner booth.

locale 10

Linda A. Ditch is a Topeka-based freelance writer specializing in food and homes; but even with two decades of writing experience, this is her first story combining a diner, a home and Elvis.

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Spring 2015

Theme décor at the Shehi home includes vintage movie seats and magazines.

om and Pat Shehi’s split- walls. Vintage theater seats provide a level house blends in per- place to take in all the sights. “Everything in the room has to fectly with their North Topeka neighborhood. be happy things,” Tom says. “I like The only clue that there may be a the music from this time better. I like bit of outrageous pizzazz inside the the cars better, the diners better. I’m couple’s home of 35 years is a shiny a baby boomer and this is what I like. Mustang parked in the driveway. But I love the simplicity of it.” Speaking of diners, in that is quite a clue. another space just off the When the Shehi basement family room, daughters got married Tom has re-created one. and left home, Tom Yes, a replica of a diner, decided to have fun minus the kitchen. The with a couple of their décor is so authentic that old bedrooms. In the one expects to smell fryfirst, he created what -Tom Shehi ing hamburgers and hear he calls the “Happy the sound of a blender Room,” a space packed with ’50s and ’60s memorabilia. A making chocolate malts. Of course, in the diner room neon Route 66 sign glows in orange and blue. Racks hold LPs by period there must be a booth, complete with artists such as Elvis, the Beach Boys, tabletop record-selector. In the cenBuddy Holly and Ricky Nelson. Con- ter of the room is a round Formica cert, movie, campaign and advertis- table with red vinyl chairs providing ing posters from that era cover the seating for four, with ketchup and

“I’m a baby boomer and this is what I like.”

Spring 2015 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE

mustard bottles at the ready. The floor is covered in a retro black and white checkered pattern, and the walls have framed soda-pop ads, movie posters and replicas of newspaper front pages from the 1952, 1956, 1960 and 1964 presidential Election Day issues. There are even lockers rescued from the Gage North Bowling Center when it closed. But why create nostalgia-filled rooms in an otherwise normal house? Tom explains: “When we first retired, we looked around to see what other baby boomers were doing. Some bought RVs, motorcycles, SUVs. Creating these rooms is cheaper than buying a classic car, a boat or taking a trip to Hawaii.” To find items for the rooms, the couple visits garage sales and church rummage sales. Some things are found online. Pat adds, “We go on a lot of trips, and we go to flea markets along the way.” “It’s a poor man’s treasure hunt,” Tom says. But Tom draws the line at nostalgia— he doesn’t actually want to go back to his teen years. “Part of it was fun,” Tom says. “The simplicity of life—only five television channels. If you got hurt, you only paid $4 for a doctor’s visit. But I don’t want to go back. I wouldn’t have Pat, air conditioning or the money to do this.” And, if Tom went back in time, then he wouldn’t have his kids, or their rooms—or their children, his grandchildren, who visit their mothers’ old bedrooms with delight. For the Shehis’ grandchildren, the rooms are a living history lesson. “They come over to see what’s new and just have fun. We listen to the old music and eat lunch in the diner,” Tom says. “My grandkids are my biggest fans.” Tom Shehi waits for the next home movie.

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Spring 2015

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Story by

Photography by

Barbara Waterman-Peters

Jason Dailey

‘From the

ABOUT THE WRITER

topekans

Outside In’

Barbara Waterman-Peters writes, paints, exhibits, teaches and manages Studio 831 in the North Topeka Arts District (NOTO).

Stephanie Muñoz-O’Neil’s long career embodies the best of teaching and creating art

Stephanie Muñoz-O’Neil creates art from her home studio in Topeka.

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Spring 2015

n her studio, surrounded by new paintings on the verge of completion, Stephanie Muñoz-O’Neil describes the origin of her working method. It is a complex technique of multiple and layered media that turns out to have a deceptively simple genesis. “I was a poor artist, just out of college, so I would buy inexpensive frames and then find something to fit inside of them,” she says. “I worked from the outside in.” Now a successful artist and instructor, Muñoz-O’Neil continues that approach to this day, applying color to the outer borders and the underlayment of modeling paste, then working toward the center over and over again, until a surface is built up. Finally, she goes back in to inscribe images, lines, words, numbers and symbols all relating directly to her subject and revealing her response to it. Known for these intricate, detailed, colorful pieces, Muñoz-O’Neil creates unique works that reward the viewer with delightful images waiting to be discovered in the details and peripheries of the canvas. Everything from architecture to the celestial realm finds its way into her imagery. Nature in the form of butterflies, dragonflies, flowers and hearts plays a major role. Color, line and surface texture please the viewer’s eye. Even assemblage, the pulling together of found objects, comes into play. In fact, to listen to the artist describe her work, one might be lulled into a sense of its playful side. But that would be only a glimpse into its depth, its universal appeal and timeless beauty. Where do these processes and motifs come from? “Everything means something to me,” says the Topeka native. “Stuff gives me energy.” Early inspirations include looking at the industrial elements of the Santa Fe railroad workshops outside her classroom window, the lines and colors of the paper in Big Chief tablets and the hidden-picture puzzles found in children’s magazines. “My desire is to allow people to notice my work from afar and then to see more up close, to find stuff,” says MuñozO’Neil. Studying art at the University of Kansas, Muñoz-O’Neil gravitated toward painting and was greatly influenced by artists such as Paul Klee, Gustav Klimt, Maxfield Parrish, Vincent van Gogh and Philip Hershberger. Klee’s spidery line, van Gogh’s vibrant color and Hershberger’s rich encaustic surface are all evident in Muñoz-O’Neil’s work, but her finished work is completely her own. No one else is working like MuñozO’Neil, and her uniqueness is one feature that makes her paintings compelling. Labor intensive, it is obviously a labor of Spring 2015 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE

Intricate details characterize Muñoz-O’Neil’s artwork.

Teaching Old-World arts of painting and jewelry, Muñoz-O’Neil will tap love, a passion for mark-making born of wonder at the world around her and joy in the celebration of that world. Her celestial imagery, suns and moons technological tools such as YouTube tutorials for instructing her students. But she also teaches patience to the young people who are accustomed to and stars, depicts the joy beyond our immediate earthly plane. Beauty is a tricky term, impossible to define, but this artist’s body of instant gratification. Art takes time to create. Muñoz-O’Neil tells her jewelry work would certainly be one manifestation of the elusive definition. Ironi- class not to focus on getting “likes” but “to create something that someone will love.” cally, in the world of art, to describe an artist’s work In her life, she has found time to focus on her as beautiful is to immediately cast it as decorative, work—even though for many years this was condisplaying no substance other than competency. In the case of this artist, however, that is not the fined to the summer months during school vacaintent. tions. Family and home took time as well. So she Every piece produced by Muñoz-O’Neil has a applied for membership in the Collective, which story, based on her experiences, her feelings and had new shows every month, to “force” herself to her responses to her environment. Each is put go to her studio. She takes pride in her ability to together carefully and thoughtfully, with the probalance all of her commitments. “Women are jug-Stephanie Muñoz-O’Neil cess as important as the end result. glers,” she says. Gallery shows also provide incenTeaching for decades—first in a junior high and now at the high school tive for creating new work, and Muñoz-O’Neil credits Bob Swain at Beaulevel—has only strengthened this artist’s zeal for it. Enthusiasm for her sub- champ’s Gallery for being “a catalyst for my work several times.” Balancing all her roles, Muñoz-O’Neil has created a series of paintings ject and belief in the innate creativity of her students has not dimmed. “Art education hasn’t been where it should be,” she states emphatical- that reflect her life. They are intentionally shaped, yet delicate. Her works ly. Muñoz-O’Neil the educator believes her job is to impart decision-making, carry her themes effortlessly, but they are never weightless despite their creative problem-solving and collaboration. Art education, she says, is “not ephemeral quality, and they are not easily dismissed; they demand a closer look for the hidden pictures which are present and worth the search. just about the production of art; it is about all that leads up to it.”

“Everything means something to me.”

Spring 2015 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE

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biography The Making of an Artist The eldest in a large family, Stephanie MuñozO’Neil was raised in Oakland. She attended Our Lady of Guadalupe School, where Sister Noel encouraged an early interest in art and inspired her unwavering goal to become a teacher. From Hayden High School, Muñoz-O’Neil went on to the University of Kansas, receiving her bachelor’s degree in art education in 1980. She began teaching at Logan Junior High, and has taught art, design, jewelry and advanced studio in her present position at Seaman High. In 2007, she was awarded a master in education degree from Baker University. Between working on her degrees and teaching, Muñoz-O’Neil took classes at Washburn University, including an oil painting class with R.J. Hunt, a watercolor class with this writer and a mixed media class with Marguerite Perret. The latter culminated in an installation on campus called Vincent’s Moon.

Muñoz-O’Neil became a valued member of the Collective in the late 1990s and showed her work at the Topeka gallery until its closing in 2014. She also has exhibited from time to time at Beauchamp’s Gallery and has been included in an exhibit at Strecker-Nelson Gallery in Manhattan. She has participated in the Kansas River Valley Art Fair and the Mulvane Mountain Plains Art Fair. “I love doing outdoor shows,” MuñozO’Neil says, adding that these public events help her understand how patrons respond to her work. Each summer, one of Topeka’s favorite events, Fiesta Mexicana, finds the artist and some of her relatives (her uncle, Andy Valdivia, is the artist known for his bright murals on the fiesta grounds) busy at their face-painting booth, creating magical visages for delighted young patrons. This project in the Children’s Corner provides part of the fundraising for what is now Holy Family School. With her children now grown, the artist finds herself with more time to spend in her wonderful studio, creating her marvelous, thought-provoking images.

Photography by

Jason Dailey

Trash Mountain

topekans

project

Called by faith, a volunteer and his family create a global relief network for impoverished communities

Brett and Jaelle Durbin gather with their four children at the Topeka headquarters of Trash Mountain Project, the faith-based relief organization they founded in 2009.

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Spring 2015

hen Brett Durbin and his wife, Jaelle, first visited Honduras in 2008 as part of a Christian relief mission, they knew they would encounter difficult conditions. But they were completely undone by the sights of a trash-dump community—a place where impoverished residents had set up their homes and their livelihoods around a mountain of refuse. Here, children as young as 2 culled through the debris with crude tools and working mothers placed their babies in the safest places—cardboard boxes on sun-baked piles of trash. On the edges of the dump, young girls appeared to be working as prostitutes and young men appeared to be selling drugs. “We saw the worst the world has to offer in one physical location. Malnutrition, abuse, hopelessness, sickness, everything you can imagine in a square mile. It was impossible to look at these kids without thinking of our own,” says Brett, who is expecting a fifth child with Jaelle.

Trash Mountain Project works with partners in places such as, clockwise from top: Cochabamba, Bolivia; San Mateo, Philippines; and Santiago, Dominican Republic. Photographs courtesy Trash Mountain Project.

Spring 2015 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE

Trash Mountain Project focuses on youth in, clockwise from top; Payatas, Phillippines; San Mateo, Philippines; and Santiago, Dominican Republic. Photographs courtesy Trash Mountain Project.

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Spring 2015

Aquaponics

Trash Mountain Project taps innovative food projects to assist communities Transformed by these sights, the Durbins approached a local pastor and volunteered to relocate in order to help the community. “I was this big white boy from Kansas who couldn’t speak Spanish, and the pastor there persuaded me that we could be of better use to his ministry and keep more people alive by staying in the United States and providing what he needed most—resources, influence and awareness,” says Brett.

“We saw the worst the world has to offer in one physical location.”

Chris Mammoliti looks over Trash Mountain Project’s aquaponics development station in North Topeka.

To carry out its mission, Trash Mountain Project relies on a network of international partners, including religious leaders, doctors, nurses and teachers. It also rests solidly on the central office’s staff—most of whom raise funds to cover their salaries and bring their expertise to the work. After learning about Trash Mountain Project, Topeka residents Chris and Carol Mammoliti sold their dream home to help support the organize. Carol became an office manager and Chris, with a background in fish hatcheries and wildlife biology, began the aquaponics division in June of 2013. Aquaponics is an agricultural system that raises marine life, in this case fish, which provide nutrients to help the simultaneous growth of other produce, in this case vegetables. It can be an ideal farming approach for areas where crop land or irrigation water are in short supply. In terms of the Trash Mountain Project,

aquaponics is introduced at sites after basic conditions of shelter, health and nutrition are met. Currently, Trash Mountain has an aquaponics site at Santiago in the Dominican Republic that is being run by local workers. Two more sites are being created in Honduras, the first as a training facility and the second as a full-scale commercial operation. “When we go overseas, our first goal is to get local people trained in how to run it, so we provide employment opportunities,” says Chris. “Our second goal is to produce vegetables and start feeding the children in our partner programs. After that is the fishmeal, then we want to be able to do it on an ongoing, consistent basis.” Chris uses the aquaponics facility in North Topeka as an experimental station to discover what might work best in other sites. Currently, the North Topeka farm produces lettuce, chard, arugula, basil, okra, peppers and

green beans. Often, if a crop succeeds in Topeka, it can be easily transported to other facilities where the growing seasons are longer, but some adaptations are made to protect from an intense sun. Chris and his staff have discovered that local seeds work better in local conditions, and they are working on adapting crops for local conditions. They have also adapted some building materials based on local conditions, such as using ubiquitous cistern tanks in Honduras for some of the structural blocks. Chris says the different conditions at each site and the knowledge of on-site workers help him to adapt and improve the project. “I’m learning a lot. It keeps you humble and you learn from the partners,” says Chris. “There are things for me to learn culturally and constructionrelated that will allow us to build a better system for the people we are trying to serve.”

-brett Durbin A year later, after extensive research, the Durbins launched Trash Mountain Project in Lakeland, Florida, where Brett worked as a college pastor. From the beginning, Trash Mountain Project was based in a “Christ-centered” mission, an approach that Durbin describes as being based from the Bible, particularly Matthew chapter 25: 35-40, in which Jesus says anyone who assists the poor and the hungry is doing the work of God. For those who do not share his faith, Brett speaks in terms of a humanitarian approach to relieving devastating conditions. “It stretches people’s minds when they see the dangers people face. It grips them and they respond,” says Brett. Noting that much of the response and support (nearly 85 percent of his donations) came from his home region around Topeka, Brett relocated the organization to the Kansas capital in 2011. From his home base, Brett—who has undergraduate and graduate degrees in criminal justice from Washburn University and a master’s degree from Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky—speaks at about 40 events each year and plans to present in seven states and four countries in 2015. This coming year, Trash Mountain staff will also visit sites in Africa, Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe to study conditions and establish local connections. Continued on page 36

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Spring 2015

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poem by

Photography by

Eric McHenry

Bill Stephens & Jason Dailey

ABOUT THE WRITER

Topeka native Eric McHenry is an award-winning poet who teaches creative writing at Washburn University.

lost connection

Pay phones in Topeka include, clockwise from upper left: a broken phone-from-car station at East Sixth and Northeast Freeman Avenue; a free pay phone booth at Topeka’s Law Enforcement Center; a booth at a private home outside of Topeka; and a vintage phone booth at a Topeka antiques market.

poetry pull-out

Saviors of stranded motorists. Rendezvous coordination spots. Analog reference centers. At the height of their population boom, pay phones were a lifeline of communication spread strategically across the city. Not anymore. The Federal Communications Commission estimates that the total number of pay phones across the nation went from some 2.1 million in 1999 to fewer than 152,000 in 2014. Our best guess from a survey of Topeka sites is that at most a few dozen operational pay phones remain in the city—at the bus station, at the library, at convenience stores or some shopping centers. Pay phones will probably not disappear entirely. And certainly there is still a case for their existence: Pay phones are available for those who cannot afford a cell phone; they never require batteries; they never drop a call. But the time of the pay phone’s primacy has definitively passed. They are no longer urban fixtures but anachronistic oddities. Topeka Magazine marks this passing with a commissioned tribute poem by Eric McHenry on the following pages.

Spring 2015 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE

Topek a

T he L a s t P a y ph o n e i n

The passing stranger used to jingle. Now he has no use for change. His ringtone is a CeeLo single

and you’re the one who’s passing strange. When I approach you on your corner or in your stuffy entryway,

I’ll do it mutely, like a mourner.

Respects are all I’ve come to pay. Payphone, I hope your standing slumber feels like a belly full of dimes

and sings you endless local-number sequences like nursery rhymes:

787-0459. 276-9332. 862-0613. And 235-9280,

which was my grandmother until

she moved herself to Brewster Place. The odd tetrameter can still

summon a voice but not a face. Payphone, I know the elegy is just another obsolete technology technology

has stranded on another street, but so is everything worthwhile:

grandmothers, moonshots, shards of clay, the square of squares we tried to dial, the only tone that won’t decay. – Eric McHenry/2015

Story by

Photography by

Linda A. Ditch

Jason Dailey

Holliday

ABOUT THE WRITER

Linda A. Ditch’s love for food dates back to times spent watching her grandmother cook in her farmhouse kitchen. A freelance writer for almost two decades, her work has appeared in numerous publications.

appetite

Tradition

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Spring 2015

For Deborah Barajas of Café Holliday, tamales are a family affair

FEBRUARY 1 – APRIL 25, 2015

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herished recipes are often passed down through generations. But the most beloved dishes are the ones requiring the effort of the entire family to create. Deborah Barajas has such a recipe. The owner of Café Holliday creates her tamales with techniques she learned from both her father and her mother in-law. She makes them for special occasions and holidays, spreading out the production over three days. On the first day, she cooks the pork. On the second day, she creates the sauce. On the third day, she mixes up the dough and assembles the tamales. But she never does it alone. Deborah’s son, Delfino, says the unwritten rule is, “You have to make the tamales to eat them. Even at other people’s families on tamale day. If you’re there, you help make tamales.” “Some families make 30 pounds at a time,” Deborah says. “Towards the end, the tamales get bigger and bigger as everyone gets tired of making them.” From the time -Delfino Barajas each Barajas child is old enough to hold a spoon, each one takes part in the assembly process. Everyone gathers around the Barajas’ kitchen island, each equipped with a stack of soaked corn husks and a spoon, with the remaining ingredients placed within easy reach. Delfino’s children, Elijah and Ellia, learn tips such as spreading the dough on the shiny side of the husk and not overfilling the tamale—lessons they will pass to the next generation. “I think this recipe will stick around, though the children may add their own twists,” says Deborah’s other son, Café Holliday general manager Jessie Barajas. “This is a way to bring the family together to do something besides just seeing Mom and Grandma go into the kitchen to cook.”

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“You have to make the tamales to eat them.”

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Barajas Tamales Preparation Time: Approximately 12 hours

Yield: 4 to 5 dozen tamales

Ingredients For the pork 2 large pork shoulders (12 to 15 pounds total) 2 lemons, rind and seeds removed 2 limes, rind and seeds removed 2 oranges, rind and seed removed 1/4 cup cumin powder 1/4 cup garlic powder 1/4 cup salt 1 12-ounce Coke can

1/4 cup salt Water Lard for frying

For the sauce 1 large bag dried ancho chili pods 1/2 cup cumin powder

Additional 1 bag corn husks

For the dough 1 5-pound bag masa mix 2 cups lard or shortening 2 cups broth from pork 1 big handful of salt 1 to 2 cups water 6 tablespoons baking powder

To make pork 1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place pork shoulders into a large roasting pan. 2. In a blender, puree the lemons, limes, oranges, cumin, garlic powder and salt until smooth. Pour the mixture over the roasts. 3. Pour the Coke into a pan. Add water to bring the liquid in the bottom of the pan to 2 inches high. Cover pan loosely with foil and bake for 4 hours. The meat should pull apart with a fork. To make the dough: 1. Place half the dough ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer. 2. Mix for 20 minutes. 3. Repeat with the remaining ingredients. Place the finished dough into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. To make the sauce: 1. Clean the seeds and stems from the chili pods. Fry lightly in the lard and drain. 2. Puree the fried pods in a blender with cumin, a bit of water, and salt to taste. Sauce should be smooth and a little thick. To prepare the corn husks: 1. Separate the corn husks and clean any debris. Use scissors to trim any uneven or discolored edges. (You want all the tamales to be the same size.) 2. Soak the husks in warm water and leave until you are ready to use. To assemble the tamales: 1. Drain a few of the corn husks at a time. 2. Use the back of a large spoon to spread some dough onto each husk to about 1/4-inch thick. (Some spread the dough all over the leaf, and some prefer about 75 percent full, up from the wide end to the narrow end in area.) 3. Fill with 4 to 5 pieces of pork and a couple of tablespoons of sauce. 4. Fold one side of the husk over the other in thirds. Fold narrow end up to hold in the contents. Put a teaspoon full of dough on top to seal everything inside. 5. Put in a steamer pot, packed loosely with the folded narrow ends on the bottom. Steam on medium-high heat for 1 1/2 hours. 6. Remove tamales from heat, cover and set aside for 30 minutes. 7. Serve, removing husks before eating. 8. Extra tamales can be frozen (but donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t usually last long enough to do so). To heat, thaw the tamales in the refrigerator and simply reheat in microwave for a couple of minutes.

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Spring 2015

Retirement Stress Test:

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Continued from page 24

“We are wanting to learn more about the global epidemic and expand our knowledge base,” says Brett. “When we started, we thought the Philippines had 10 to 20 trash communities, but now we know there are 100. We have identified 500 trash-dump communities around the globe, but we estimate there are well over 1,000 of these communities.” Trash Mountain, which now has 12 full-time employees and one part-time employee, has been able to expand because of incredible support in northeast Kansas. “Whenever we have a need, a resource shows up,” says Brett. And these coordinated efforts have been assisted at crucial times by countless coincidences: the current landlord who stopped by Brett’s previous office just as he was prepared to sign a less-optimal lease that wouldn’t have accommodated continued expansion; the rerouted airline pilot at a Florida café who overheard Brett ruminating with a colleague about how they could afford tickets to visit a site, and who then gave them vouchers; the plumber who offered assistance at precisely the moment when his expertise was most needed at the group’s aquaponics facility north of Topeka, where the organization is researching portable, sustainable farming techniques for trash-dump sites. “The number of things that have fallen into place is just staggering,” says Brett. Currently, the organization is working in three countries where it has set up schools, training centers and other facilities to better the lives of trash-community residents. All work is done in partnership with local organizations and with the goal of creating self-sustaining projects and moving young people out of poverty. “If we can get a child an education and away from the pain they’ve experienced, then that can lead to technical training and college scholarships and break the cycle,” says Brett. Keeping up with the pace of his mission, Brett does power lifting and mixed martial arts to help maintain his energy while company white-boards, scriptures and donations fuel his optimism and sharpen his focus on what matters most. “God put this in front of us—we could not walk away from it. I’ve seen real examples of God at work, and everything about me has changed since this started,” he says. “I used to be a much more selfish person, but now I know what’s important in life, which is supporting and caring about other people. Best of all, I get to do that with my family.”

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Spring 2015

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Topeka Magazine’s 10 Recommendations for March

March 2 | Combat Air Museum returns to extended spring/ summer/fall hours, with all exhibitions open for display | 7016 SE Forbes Ave. | 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. MondaySaturday; noon-4:30 p.m. Sundays | For more information, call (785) 862-3303 or go online at combatairmuseum.org

march Featured Event:

The Mulvane Goes Country Art museums are often regarded as gemstones of urban culture. This spring, however, Mulvane Art Museum celebrates two regional artists and their focus on rural beauty. The prints of Charles Capps (1898-1981) draw on his classical training and commercial work, but a celebration of idyllic small-town scenes appears to be the primary influence. Capps, who spent much of his professional life in the Wichita area, conveys the beauty of vast, unpopulated landscapes. His people and structures seem to live small but vital lives under a skyline dominated by one tree or one grain bin. Capps’ work is a genuinely felt glorification of the rural as serene. The other side of this exhibition comes from an artist who could be seen as Capps’ country counterpart. The woodcuts of Tom Huck (born 1971) seem to trample off the walls with clustered scenes of hillbilly bacchanalia. Huck’s work evokes a rambunctious, diesel-powered, smokebelching spirit—the rural dream as a revved-up romp in a mud-splattered monster truck rather than a sunset ride on a horse-pulled hay wagon. Think of John Steuart Curry picking up his mural brush after a bad batch of moonshine and crankin’ up Lynyrd Skynyrd a bit too loud—that’s Huck. Country: Prints by Charles Capps and Tom Huck will run from March 27 through August 1, at the Mulvane Art Museum, 1700 SW Jewell Ave., with an opening reception during the April 3 First Friday Artwalk from 5-7:30 p.m. Admission to the gallery is free and open to the public.

March 4 | Kansas Reptiles, an introduction | Learn how to identify native snakes and other reptiles and where you can find them in Kansas | A free presentation by Kelly Haller, cosponsored by Topeka Audubon Society | Marvin Auditorium of Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library | 7-8:30 p.m. | For more information, call (785) 580-4555 or go online at tscpl.org March 5 | Workshop on computerized genealogy presented by Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library | Shawnee North Community Center | 10-11:30 a.m. | For more information and mandatory advanced registration, call (785) 286-0676 | Event repeats March 9 at Hillcrest Community Center, and again in April

March 6 and first Friday of every month | ArtsConnect First Friday ArtWalk | Various locations across the city, with complimentary shuttle bus rides between regions | 5-8 p.m. | For more information, see map on pages 34-35. March 14 | St. Patrick’s Day Parade through Downtown Topeka, the region’s biggest St. Pat’s parade and top choice of discerning leprechauns | Noon | For route information and full schedule, go online at downtown topekainc.com March 14 | Topeka Symphony Orchestra presents the “Great Sounds” concert with Washburn University’s mezzo-soprano Ann Marie Snook | White Concert Hall | 7:30 p.m. | For tickets and more information, call (785) 232-2032 or go online at topekasymphony.org March 14-22 | Gage Park Mini-Train opens the 2015 season with special spring break runs | Gage Park | Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-4:45 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m.-4:45 p.m. | After the spring break run, the train begins weekend runs from March 27-May 17, Fridays and Saturdays 10 a.m.-4:45 p.m. and Sundays 11 a.m.-4:45 p.m.; daily summertime runs begin on May 18

Photography credit: Mulvane Art Museum, Jason Dailey, Shutterstock and Topeka Performing Arts Center

March 22 | “Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610” performed by the Spire Ensemble, part of Grace Episcopal Cathedral’s Great Spaces series | Grace Cathedral, 701 SW Eighth Ave. | 5 p.m. | For tickets and more information, call (785) 235-3457 or go online at greatspaces.org

March 22 | NCAA basketball tournament big-screens watch party … at the library | Marvin Auditorium of the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library | Noon9 p.m. | For more information, go online at tscpl.org

March 26 | Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, a rock ’n’ roll musical | Topeka Performing Arts Center | 7:30 p.m. | For tickets and more information, call (785) 234-2787 or go online at tpactix.org

Spring 2015 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Topeka Magazine’s 10 Recommendations for April

Topeka Habitat for Humanity volunteer coordinator Nikki MacMillan and construction manager Zac Weichert

april Featured Event:

Habitat for Humanity Volunteer Orientation Spring cleaning? How about some spring power-tooling instead? Topeka Habitat for Humanity, the nonprofit organization dedicated to providing affordable housing to community families through volunteer labor and new-homeowner sweat-equity, has a hammer with your name on it this season. New volunteers are welcomed to become part of the organization’s work crews through regular orientation sessions, followed up with specific on-location training from Habitat’s construction supervisor. “People don’t have to have experience to volunteer on sites—we will train folks,” says volunteer coordinator Nikki MacMillan. Those who are not interested in construction can explore other options such as working at ReStore, the organization’s interior furnishing storefront. Volunteers can arrive as individuals or as part of a large group. Religious circles, student organizations and work colleagues have all formed construction brigades in the past—either as repeat volunteers or for one-time work days. Last year, the local organization tapped more than 1,200 volunteer hours for its construction projects. MacMillan says this donated labor not only put deserving families into homes, but provided a meaningful experience for the volunteers. “It can be a great teambuilding experience, and it is powerful to know that you are helping give back to the community,” MacMillan says. “You will work alongside the owners and get to know the families that are benefitting from the service.” Volunteer orientation classes of approximately one hour are held Wednesdays at 4 p.m. and Thursdays at 9:30 a.m. at the Topeka Habitat for Humanity office, 2907 SW Topeka Blvd. For more information and to reserve a spot or explore setting up a group class, call (785) 234-4322 or send an email to volunteer@topekahabitat.org. “Spring and summer are our high-need times,” MacMillan says, “but we need people all the time and can schedule for interior work or work in our ReStore throughout the year.”

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Spring 2015

more information, call (785) 249-4704 or go online at downtowntopeka farmersmarket.com April 11 | Top Town Indie Film Festival presents downtown film competition and showing | 707 SE Quincy | 9 a.m.-9 p.m. | For tickets and information, call (785) 234-9336 or go online at topcon. us/toptown.html

April 17May 2 | The Great Gatsby | Stage production of the classic American novel | Topeka Civic Theatre and Academy | Performance times vary | For tickets and information, call (785) 357-5211 or go online at topekacivic theatre.com April 18 | Bridge2Bridge 5K Run/Walk | A competitive and casual race through the urban landscape of Topeka | 9 a.m. | For registration and information, call (785) 234-9336 or go online through brownpaper tickets.com

April 25 | An Evening as a Child | A fundraiser for Easter Seals Capper Foundation that gives adults the opportunity to revel in childhood games | Exhibition Hall of Kansas Expocentre | 6-11 p.m. | For tickets and information, call (785) 272-4060 or go online at easterseals.com/ capper

Photography credit: Jason Dailey, Topeka Performing Arts Center and Shutterstock

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Topeka Magazine’s 10 Recommendations for May

May 20 (approx.) | Peak time for roses begins at Gage Park’s Reinisch Rose Garden, with more than 400 rose varieties coming into bloom | Gage Park | 6 a.m.–11 p.m. | Free and open to the public

May 1-3 | Kaw Valley Woodcarvers seminar on relief carvings | 4120 Brickyard Road | For registration and information, go online at kawvalley woodcarvers.org

may Featured Event: Our Great Town

The Topeka Symphony Orchestra closes out its 69th season on May 2 with a concert that seeks to define the city through music and the vision of young photographers. “Our Great Town” is a concept that conductor Kyle Wiley Pickett developed more than a decade ago while serving as a conductor in Juneau, Alaska. His idea is to create a film based on city landscapes that plays to the orchestral accompaniment of Aaron Copland’s score for Our Town. For this concert, the images will be taken by youth photographers from the nonprofit Heavenly Visions Foundation who are asked simply to photograph the people, places and things in Topeka that are important to them. “What I like about this especially is that we as adults see our city in a certain way, but when you see things from the perspective of the young people it gives you a different window into the community,” Pickett says. The teen photographers will be introduced at the concert (which also includes Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition) and their work will be on display in the White Concert Hall lobby. Yolanda Taylor, founder and director of the Heavenly Visions Foundation, says the concert is an opportunity for her students to show their work and for the community to enjoy their talent. Taylor says the photographs are a reflection not only of the way young people see Topeka, but of how a group of trained photographers—each with different personal interests and stories—provides a fresh perspective on the city.

Photo credit: Verrontae Perry, Kaylee Dinwiddle and Khalil Newton of Heavenly Visions Foundation, addisonfrei.com, Jason Dailey and Shutterstock

May 25 | Memorial Day “Massing of the Colors” ceremony to honor veterans | Great Overland Station | 701 N. Kansas Ave. | Free luncheon for veterans and veterans’ family members at 12:30 p.m., Massing of the Colors begins at 2 p.m. | For more information, call organizers Grace Hospice at (785) 2280400 or go online at greatoverland station.com

May 30 | Journey for Jo 5K run/ walk to honor area runner and USD 501 teacher Jo Bryant | Proceeds benefit cholangiocarcinoma research | Lake Shawnee | 8:30-11:30 a.m. | For registration and more information, call (913) 706-3213 or go online at journeyforjo.com

Spring 2015 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE

story & Photography by

Bill Stephens

Grave to

ABOUT THE WRITER

topekans

Grave Coverage

Bill Stephens is a retired city worker and veteran photographer whose photos and writings have appeared in KANSAS! magazine and other publications.

Local “gravers” walk the city’s cemeteries on a mission to document the past

A time-exposure photograph reveals the stars over Eskridge Cemetery.

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Spring 2015

“I’ve added a few grave f you have researched your family history, then memorials, but most of what you know the difficulty I’ve done is to correct erronerequired to authenticate ous data or add child or parsome ancestral records. Over ent links that the volunteer the past years, this search has didn’t know when they initially become easier—and more reli- entered the memorial record,” able—thanks to the efforts of Leonard says. Cheryl White, who has countless volunteers who field and sometimes even anticipate volunteered for five years and has more than 15,000 grave queries through the internet. In Topeka and Shawnee entries and 17,000 photos to her credit, makes a County, for exampoint to document ple, more than graves for her fel200 individuals, low 1964 Topeka sometimes called High School class“gravers,” documates. She has ment gravesite developed several records for geneapproaches for alogists across the reading and phoworld. Working tographing grave through sites such markers that have as findagrave.com, faded or worn -Nancy Brooks the volunteers smooth over the enter information scoured from burial records decades. Her best tip? Use or obituaries. Often, they water and a natural bristled walk through one of the area’s brush to safely clean lichens 52 cemeteries and jot down from a stone (but not sandthe names and dates as they stone). Philicia McKee, executive appear on the grave markers. Photos of grave markers are director of the Topeka chapter particularly useful to research- of Keep America Beautiful, has ers, and some volunteers spe- contributed to gravesite datacialize in uploading photogra- bases for years. She and other volunteers spent months walkphy. But most of the volun- ing Topeka’s Mount Auburn teer-gravers also contribute to cemetery documenting and research in other ways, each photographing each of the by tapping individual skills and approximately 3,500 tombstones. The volunteers then strengths. Ken Leonard, for exam- entered all of the data, includple, is a native Topekan who ing a long list of military veterteaches genealogy to adults in an graves, into the findagrave Johnson County and applies website. “We discovered veterhis expertise to the general ans from at least seven wars: the Civil War, the Indian War, task of documenting graves.

“I think it is important to have this information for present and future researchers.”

Spring 2015 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE

the Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, Korea and Vietnam,” McKee says. McKee’s group made sure that this information was as widely available as possible, sharing the full report with funeral homes, the public library, the state historical society, area genealogists and local authorities (who have since, through the county administration, inherited responsibility for the cemetery grounds). Topeka’s Larry and Nancy Brooks have volunteered for more than five years and logged more than 22,000 entries—including one that might not have been discovered without them. This happened in Rochester Cemetery, north of Topeka, where they were asked if they could find the undocumented grave of a woman who was thought to be buried there. “We searched and we finally came across the gravestone lying down with mud on it, half grown over with weeds,” Nancy says. “We notified the cemetery manager, and he said he never even knew it was there. He added it to the cemetery records.” Though now their health keeps them from roving around unkempt areas of a graveyard, Larry and Nancy continue to volunteer by updating websites with authenticated obituary information from old newspapers. “I think it is important to have this information for present and future researchers. I also try to add a flower

Volunteer Cheryl White records and cleans tombstones at Mount Hope Cemetery.

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Spring 2015

Mysteries Remain

Volunteer gravers are dedicated to providing people with accurate, verified information that they locate through Topeka’s cemeteries. But they also appreciate the mysteries and stories around the graveyard. Here are two local favorites. The welldressed girl

Topeka’s Mount Hope Cemetery has a grave marker for a 5-year-old who died 130 years ago. It is a lifesized statue of a little girl, and a well-wisher (or group of wellwishers) places a different hat or scarf on the marker several times each year.

The fate of David Marshall

A grave marker at Mount Auburn in Topeka looks quite normal until you get close enough to read the inscription: “David Marshall 1893-1909 David came to his death by poison administered by Mary Troy.” The young Marshall was originally buried under a different name, but his body was exhumed and identified as a result of a sensational murder trial.

for all of our soldiers when I come across their sites,” Nancy says. Janice LeMaster is another volunteer who frequently leaves flowers on graves. “I got an early interest in cemeteries since my grandmother and mother decorated graves of family,” LeMaster says. “That was back when you cut peonies and put them in a jar. I am the only family member left and continue to decorate at 11 cemeteries, both my husband’s and my family. This tradition has been passed on to our 10-year-old granddaughter, who takes live peonies and leaves them on veterans’ graves. Hopefully she will carry on the tradition of decorating graves.” In addition to the cemeteries she visits in person, LeMaster has posted more than 9,000 listings and 13,000 grave photos online. Cemeteries across the nation have adapted to share this information with wider audiences. Topeka Cemetery, for example, maintains a website with an interactive database for family and researchers. It is one of the few cemeteries in the country that also has online maps of the entire burial grounds plus individual section maps with all lot locations clearly marked. Not all cemeteries and graves are as extensively documented. But if there is an item missing from your family records, it’s increasingly likely that help may be only a click-request away.

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Level-headedness usually isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the stuff of fame. But our two feature subjects in this issue have plenty of both. Join us in these pages as we talk with global musician Andy McKee, who balances world tours with a commitment to being a very real presence in the life of his two young sons, and visit with Hunter Holloway, the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s youngest Grand Prix champion equestrian making her bid for even bigger titles. Spring 2015 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE

Poppa McKee

Family time?

Healthy eating? Inspiring tunes? Perhaps nobody told Andy McKee t h at a g l o b a l m u s i c s ta r should be all about sex, drugs and loud music? O r , j u s t m ay b e ,

McKee knows best. S to ry b y N i c k Sp a c e k P h oto g r a p h y b y J a s o n Da i l e y

ndy McKee says he has two main reasons for embracing a healthful life as of late: his sons, 3-year-old Lochlan and 1-year-old Brendan. “With two kids, when I’m at home they want to play all the time, and I want to play with them,” McKee says. “So, yeah, just trying to get more healthy. I’ve been working out more. I actually just quit drinking—I mean, I was never a crazy drinker—but you know, stuff like that.” McKee has is also taking protein supplements and sticking to a new diet, wherein he eats smaller amounts more frequently to keep his metabolism. And the same new energy that allows him to run around with his toddlers also carries over into his professional life.

Even speaking on the day after an intense performance, the musician, who turns 36 this spring, seemed unaffected by the lateness of the evening. “Last night I went for two hours and felt great. The audience was really into it, so I could’ve gone another hour if they’d let me, probably.” Whether this newfound energy or peace at home is responsible, something has been driving McKee in the past years to push beyond his already amazing technical expertise. Much of his recent music is carving out a series of unique sounds on his new, main instrument, a harp guitar—a fairly large acoustic instrument measuring nearly four feet in length, which looks like something that would be played by a medieval

“With two kids, when I’m at home they want to play all the time, and I want to play with them.” And—just in case you didn’t know—McKee’s profession isn’t usually associated with healthy living. He’s one of those guitar gods. Andy McKee became a viral sensation around 2007 through a series of YouTube videos featuring his amazing fingerpicking techniques. In 2011, this magazine profiled McKee’s global rise, and the Topeka-based guitarist has continued to fill venues on tours across the world. However, if you’re familiar with McKee only through those initial videos or coverage, you may be surprised to see him onstage these days. His presence is larger, but physically he is a much smaller man. “Yeah! It feels better on stage, just moving, even. Less cumbersome,” McKee says.

Rick Nielsen. The harp guitar’s melding of traditional guitar and harp, with six sub-bass strings, allows for a fantastic range of sounds to be made by just one musician. “It’s interesting to have that expanded range,” McKee says of the instrument. “It’s almost playing bass and guitar at the same time with that, having those extra options. That’s something that’s really appealing with other tunings—is that I’ve got new chord combinations that aren’t even possible on a regular guitar. That’s kind of how my songwriting process goes: starting with that, and letting things happen.” When asked how he came to play such an unusual instrument, McKee admits he was just as amazed by the unique appearance of the harp guitar upon first seeing it as most of his fans are.

“I discovered it in the ’90s, when I heard Michael Hedges playing one on a record, and was just amazed, and found magazines with pictures of him and this crazy harp guitar,” McKee says. “I eventually got one in 2003 from this great musician named Stephen Bennett, and just loved the options it provides—you know, tapping things on the guitar and playing the bass-sort-of notes on the harp. It’s pretty fun.” That’s really what sets McKee apart from other guitarists. While many supplement their six-string stylings with a backing band, it’s just McKee up on stage when he performs. But that doesn’t make the show any less spectacular. On stage, McKee plays straight fingerpicking and adds percussion on the harp guitar itself. It’s impressive to the point that calling McKee a one-man band would be reductive. It’s not just acoustic-set purists who are fans of McKee’s work. In 2012, he opened for progressive metal band Dream Theater, and while he was getting ready to play those dates, he was contacted by Prince to play in the Purple One’s band for a tour of Australia. McKee’s story of playing with one of the most famous musicians of the last several decades is remarkably modest and self-effacing. “I went up to Minneapolis and met Prince and a couple of his bandmates. He had found me because he had found me on YouTube, like everyone else. He just wanted me to play for him, and then we jammed a bit, and he loved it. So when I was done with Dream Theater I just flew from Thailand to Australia, and we did shows down there. So, that was just a big honor. I mean, jeez—this guy is a legend, and I had something that I never could have imagined happen. To have someone like Prince even know I exist—much less go play with him?” But despite the honor, McKee says that being viewed as a great guitar player isn’t what really moves him. He says he wants to write good music that people can use in some meaningful way in their lives. “Maybe it affects them—with a problem they’re dealing with and they put on this music and it really helps them. That means a lot to me,” he says. And it’s from people that McKee draws much of his inspiration. For example, on his latest release, last year’s Mythmaker EP, “The Reason” was dedicated to his two sons. Music and family come together for McKee, but are also bridged with an alternating schedule: two weeks on the road, two weeks at home. In Topeka, McKee is able to spend uninterrupted time with his two boys and his wife, Christine. A full-time mother, Christine is then able to devote her time to their children while McKee goes on tour, concentrating fully developing his art. “I’m pretty much just trying to keep writing good music, and touring as much as I can. I actually play in other countries more than America. I’d actually like to do some more touring in America, develop the fanbase more. We’ll see how that all goes, and it should be great.”

Story by Carolyn Kaberline \ Photography by Jason Dailey

Hunter

A l o c a l r i d e r t e a m s w i t h

her tall, spirited horse in their run for an Olympic gold medal

Hunter Holloway walks down an empty barn aisle, opens a stall door to a tall, gray horse and calls softly to him. The horse, YOLO, immediately comes to Hunter and follows her down the aisle to the crossties at the far end. “He knows his name,” Hunter says, adding that whether she walks fast or slow, YOLO matches her stride without halter or rope. Once tacked up, YOLO—an acronym for You Only Live Once—heads with Hunter to the arena just outside the barn in rural southwest Topeka. Although YOLO is the ninth horse that Hunter has ridden this day, it’s obvious that these two share something special: Each seems to know exactly what the other will do as they warm up on the flat and then fly over a series of jumps. Of the pair, Hunter is the veteran. The 17-yearold Topekan began her riding career at 18 months old with walk-trot competitions. By the time she turned 3, Hunter was competing in small jumps on trained mounts. More horses and large ponies followed, each giving Hunter additional experience, as did the horses that rotated through the barn as part of the family business. Then came YOLO. The Holloways found the now-11-year-old gelding in Texas almost three years ago. He was an unusual selection for a top-caliber competitive jumper, most of whom come from Europe. Not only was YOLO American stock, but his pedigree was mixed. While his father’s line is pure Holsteiner stallion, his mother’s bloodline is unknown. But YOLO has proven he can jump. As Hunter’s Grand Prix competition mount, he has regularly cleared courses of five-foot obstacles. “When I saw him, I put Hunter right on him and knew he was a good fit,” says Brandie Holloway, Hunter’s mother and trainer. “He jumped better for her than me, so I knew he liked Hunter’s style. I also wanted something brave with big scope and felt he

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had both. He is a very cocky horse, which can be entertaining.” Hunter describes YOLO as having a “big presence.” Standing at nearly 17-hands tall (or 5’ 8” measured from the ground to the rise between his shoulder blades), YOLO follows Hunter everywhere and, right before competition, he will shake his head up and down and refuse to stand still before he enters the ring. YOLO’s competitive drive may be essential in helping Hunter achieving her Olympic dream. She’s well on her way—ranked 91st in the 2014 world rankings, Hunter represented the United States in the Young Riders Nation’s Cup in Hagen, Germany, last summer, and has shown in some of the toughest events in this country and Canada. Hunter has been mentored by some of the greats of her sport, including Olympians Anne Kursinski and George Morris, but her main trainer is her mother, who at 14 became the youngest person to ever win an American Quarter Horse World Championship in jumping. Brandie also won her first Grand Prix at 18, a feat that Hunter would eclipse at age 12, making her the youngest rider in the world to do so. The years of competition at such an early age have forced Hunter to set a course atypical for most American teenagers, though common for top-level athletes. After attending public school through fifth grade, Hunter missed most of her sixth-grade courses as her competition schedule intensified. That was her last year of a standard school routine. “Sometimes I miss the social aspect of it,” Hunter says of a regular school experience, “but what I want to do makes it worth it.” Now, Hunter studies independently, finishing her lessons after training. Even though her days begin well before 8 a.m., by 5 p.m. she is only winding down her riding and still has

horses to feed and stalls to clean before dragging the arena in preparation for the next day’s training. Then comes homework. “I have school when I’m home,” Hunter says. “It’s pretty hard to do school-work after a show when we often have to be in the arena at 1 or 2 a.m. to exercise the horses. At the shows the horses come first.” Horses seem to be a priority for her immediate future as well. Although Hunter carries a 3.8 grade average as a high school junior and will graduate a semester early, she is not sure about college. “Eighteen is riding prime,” she says. “I’ll be eligible to compete in World Cup qualifiers and the Olympics. I don’t know if I want to take four years out to go through more school.” Back in the arena, Hunter and YOLO finish their last jumps before heading back toward YOLO’s stall. Watching Hunter and YOLO, Brandie says the two have a “special bond” and that the “give and take” between horse and rider has transformed them into a powerful team. “Hunter lets him do things a little his way and in his style, and he comes around and does things her way just a little bit too,” Brandie says. “It takes time to earn trust, and they definitely have each other’s trust and confidence.” Brandie says that when it comes to Hunter’s Olympic dreams, YOLO might not be the horse that makes it with her for the final competition. There are many things that can happen before then, including injuries or a decision by the team of trainers to tap a different animal. But if all things stay the same, YOLO would be the top choice because he brings something no other horse can. “He is a very special horse,” Brandie says, “and I would love to see it be him, as I know he will try his heart out for Hunter.”

3 top trainers talk

Road to Gold

Very

smart. Hunter loves what she does.

No one makes her.

Very

hungry.

Hunter is a

YOLO looks to be the real deal. YOLO is a good

j u mpe r

natural

He’s a little on the

hot side.

and is conti nually learni ng

h o r s e IQ

hours of practice.

b r i ll i a n t horse-rider m o me n t s

lot more sensitive

A rider can’t do without a horse. Even the best rider in the world

than you would think.

won’t get to the Olympics on a

d o n k e y.

Hunter ha s

10,000

The pair have

YOLO is a

Sharpening skills

Talent is not born; it is grown through

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Spring 2015

u p .

get best out of him.

Improve YOLO’s brain by working on flat runs.

More mileage,

more international events.

and a super horse.

Yolo is fast and wants to leave jumps up.

Laser eye

Hunter works well with YOLO to

Great work ethic will take her a long way.

g i ve

horse

for Hunter at the moment. They work very well together.

Advice for the next level

Hunter’s mother gets credit for placing daughter on great horses at an early age. This made Hunter ready for more advanced horses.

Former North American Young Riders gold medalist, national trainer.

Never

Wonderful

Hunter + YOLO = dynamic duo

Harriet Bunker

QUOTES FROM ...

Then comes YOLO …

National trainer and United States Equestrian Federation judge.

Even with her success so far, she’s eager to

learn.

Hunter instills a quiet

confidence

in horses

hum

Starting out … Hunter Holloway’s natural talents

Diane Carney

QUOTES FROM ...

Five-time Olympian and one of the world’s leading riders and trainers.

ilit

Anne Kursinski

keep

QUOTES FROM ...

about hunter, yolo and their quest for world titles

Develop a personal team. Surround yourself with the best horsemen, including riders, veterinarians and farriers. Pick their brains.

Ultimate goal

Olympic material, without a doubt. Hunter has a great shot at the Olympics. Hunter has very good chances at the 2016 Olympics.

Hunter has many events to aim for

—the World Cup Finals, the Pan-American Games, the Nations Cup—all are on the road to the Olympics.