F stree.. eal .lik fro e al m h l th om e s e o tu ver ff y bre ou'l ak. l ..
Volume 3, Issue 6 | 11/08/11 - 11/30/11 | theblacksheeponline.com
The
Black Sheep
“A College Newspaper That’s Actually About College”
Who’s that Hippie Man? Mitch Barnett wrote this Have you ever noticed the old man who walks around campus wearing a red bandana and green trench coat? Who do you think he is? Over the past two weeks I’ve walked around the Western Michigan University campus asking people this very question, and the answer is different almost every time. Some students think he’s an old hippie war veteran while others think he is an undercover police officer asking kids for drugs. The rumors go on and on, and that’s why I’m here to clear things up and get the true story on that hippie man. The man underneath the green trench coat is Ayshhyha Njoku Khazad.,You’ve probably already guessed that’s not his birth name. This was the first thing we discussed in the interview. While he would not tell me his birth given name, he did explain the story behind his new one. Khazad has been a member of various groups of different religions. After converting to Judaism for a while, he changed his first name to the Hebrew name Ayshhyah. Njoku is the middle name of his wife, and Khazad, is a reference to the Dwarf language in J.R.R Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Khazad was actually born and raised in Kalamazoo and went to high school at the Howe Military Academy. In 1960 he was a semifinalist for the Merritt Scholarship, but was accepted to the University of Chicago before he took the exam. At the University of Chicago freshman orientation, things took a turn for the worst. Khazad had a breakdown
Other stuff
Inside
and after an abundance of them he was diagnosed with mental illness. He partook in a series of electro-shock therapy treatments then he was cleared to go back to school. However, because of the illness the school would not accept him. In 1961, Khazad moved back to Kalamazoo and attended Kalamazoo College, the school of his father. After being there for only a couple of weeks, he again began to have more panic breakdowns. This was when he was diagnosed with S.P.M.I. (Serious and Persistent Mental Illness). After being released from the hospital, Kalamazoo College wouldn’t take him back. He was then locked up in a mental hospital in Plainwell, Michigan. Khazad spent about six or seven months there and over that time received over 100 electro-shock treatments, champ. In 1962, Khazad began attending our wonderful school of Western Michigan University. “I broke down a few more times after that, but Western Michigan always took me back afterward,” Khazad said, “I will always appreciate WMU for always taking me back after my breakdowns.” Khazad graduated from Western in 1969 with a degree in Mathematics. “I had way more math than I needed,” said Khazad, “I was also three hours short of a minor in English, Physics, and Psychology.” Also in 1969, Khazad married his first wife Alice and they lived together on the Twin Oaks Commune. Sadly, his illness caused her to leave him years later.
04: The Keg Law! Hey, you gotta fight for your right to par-tay.
“During my first marriage, I picked roses in a greenhouse,” Khazad said, “After that, I just kinda hung around for a while.” Khazad got married again in 1974 to Vicki, but that marriage didn’t work out either due to the mental illness. Then in 1975, Khazad packed up and moved out west to Oregon. “I hoped to go to grad school at the University of Oregon,” said Khazad. “But due to the stigma against SPMI, I couldn’t get in. I ended up tutoring math about 60 hours per week.” It was during the time he spent in Oregon that Khazad was put on experimental medication to help treat the SPMI. Khazad moved back to Kalamazoo in 1995 and in 2005 he was judged recovered from the illness as long as his medication was taken. Today, Khazad is 67 years old and spends his time riding the Lovell bus to and from campus to sell his newspaper, Freedom’s Cry. He still tutors math. He also enjoys playing an ancient Chinese game, Go, with his friends. You’ll probably see him over by Waldo Library with his red bandana and green trench coat on. Khazad is one of the nicest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of talking with and I am glad to have met him so, don’t be afraid to stop and say hello.
05: no one cares about your major
see mom! it's okay for me to be a history major!
13: The Black Sheep Interviews Double trouble this issue, with Mat Kearney and 12th Planet!