April 2014 by The Burr Magazine

APRIL 2014

FROM BULLETS TO BOOKS: A CHILD SOLDIER’S STORY LIFE OF A COLLEGE ATHLETE POST-PLAY SIPPING PRETTY: DOWNTOWN’S DECADENT DRINKS

WHO

YARNIGAMI? MOST + KENT’S INTRIGUING PEOPLE

PHOTOS BY LEAH KLAFCZYNSKI (COVER, FLASH, ANNIE CHRIST) KRISTI GARABRANDT (GENE SHELTON) EMILY KAELIN (BARBARA VERLEZZA, BLAKE VEDDER)

THE ISSUE

pg.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

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Though some people might not understand the fanaticism, there’s more to sports fandom than soccer riots and foam fingers.

KENT’S MOST INTRIGUING PEOPLE FROM THE UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT TO THE TALLEST MAN IN KENT, THESE ARE SOME OF KENT’S MOST INTRIGUING PEOPLE.

FROM BULLETS TO BOOKS

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Lassana Kanneh tells the story of his journey from the streets of war-torn Liberia to the classrooms of Kent State.

DROP BY DROP

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Water for the Americas stops at Kent State on its quest to promote clean drinking water worldwide.

THE

THE ISSUE

LOOP

12 KENT’S METAPHYSICAL MINDS

Christina Bucciere seeks out the most knowledgeable people of the supernatural kind in and around Kent.

CLASS BY THE GLASS 14 HIGH An entrepreneurial couple revives a 1920s speakeasy where one stood almost a century ago.

18 KENT’S FLASHIEST

THE

COCKTAILS Run up a tab on some of Kent’s most colorful and tasty cocktails.

FEED

24 COLLEGE SIM

PORTRAIT OF AN AMERICAN The Sims may be a digital imitation of life, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t lessons to be learned.

THE

ACADEMY

THE 27 AFTER FINAL WHISTLE

College athletes live in the spotlight. For those who don’t get a chance to play professionally, the adjustment to a normal life is a challenge.

FOR MAY 4 32 CARING Nurse Beatrice Mitchell shares

THE

her experiences from treating a patient wounded in the May 4 shootings.

Beatrice Mitchell

THE BURR // APRIL 2014

6 8

62 64

THROUGH THE LENS STATE OF THE UNIVERSITY THEATRE & DANCE PREVIEW THE EQUALIZER LAST SHOT Helping young people make their voices heard on issues that matter. Visit at genprogress.org

PHOTOS BY CHELSAE KETCHUM (27,32); SAMANTHA PLACE (14)

❝

MARK THOMAS GRACE. I ALWAYS LOOK FOR THAT NAME EVERY YEAR ON THE MEMORIAL DAY. HE MAY OR MAY NOT REMEMBER ME. I WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HIM, THOUGH. I FELT HIS PAIN AND FRUSTRATION LIKE IT WAS MY OWN. IT WAS MY OWN.”

EXTRAS

ALYSSA MORLACCI EDITOR IN CHIEF MATT POLEN MANAGING EDITOR/SENIOR EDITOR RACHEL MULLENAX ART DIRECTOR LEAH PERRINO ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR CHRISTINA BUCCIERE SENIOR EDITOR ANDRE FORREST PHOTO EDITOR LEAH KLAFCZYNSKI ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR MARISSA BARNHART COPY CHIEF CARLEY HULL WEB EDITOR PAUL DILYARD WEB PRODUCER

A NOTE FROM ALYSSA MORLACCI

he woman on our cover is the stealthy “Yarnigami,” who blankets downtown benches, lamp posts and bike racks with her knittings. She asked us not to reveal her identity. She preferred to disguise herself in the fabrics of her work. This is always a journalistic nightmare. Using a source without his or her name is discouraged.

However, as our staff attempted to find Kent’s most intriguing people, we found more characters like her, with identities ranging from secretive to conflicting to proud. For example, the school’s mascot, who isn’t permitted by the university to let anyone know who he or she is in order to preserve the illusion of “Flash.” Or Evan Bailey, who leads two lives—PR professor by day, DJ by night. Or Derek Meduri, who is a fashion merchandising major with his startup business logo tattooed on his chest. In December, I decided it was important we print this issue because the most memorable part of a college experience is the people met along the way—the professors who challenge our thought processes, the friends who expand our understandings of others and the impressions each person has on our lives. The Burr chose a group of people who give Kent its character. Read about our picks on page 43. Melissa Puppo felt one of our intriguing people’s stories was too important to limit to one page, so we extended it to five. Read about Lassana Kanneh’s life as a Liberian child soldier on page 38.

Thanks for picking up The Burr, and don’t forget to grab our publication’s century-old celebration issue in May.

THE BURR // APRIL 2014

JENNIFER KESSEN ADVISER

WRITERS HILARY CRISAN, NATHAN HAVENNER, KELSEY HUSNICK, SAMANTHA ICKES, KELSEY LEYVA, LUCY MERRIMAN, GRACE MURRAY MELISSA PUPPO, NICK SHOOK, DYLAN SONDERMAN, MACKENZIE WALLACE, PATRICK WILLIAMS PHOTOGRAPHERS KRISTI GARABRANDT, EMILY KAELIN, ANDREA NOALL, SAMANTHA PLACE, MELANIE NESTRUK, CHELSAE KETCHUM, NICOLE SAUTER COPY EDITORS RACHEL CAMPBELL, CORISSA GAY, THOMAS HAASE, HEATHER INGLIS DESIGNERS HALEY BAKER, GINA LEONE, ROBERT NOLAND ILLUSTRATOR AMANDA LANG

LORI CANTOR BUSINESS MANAGER KATIE BARNES MEDIA SPECIALIST NORMA YOUNG BUSINESS ANALYST TAMI BONGIORNI ADVERTISING MANAGER

THIS MAGAZINE WAS MADE POSSIBLE WITH THE SUPPORT OF GENERATION PROGRESS, A PROJECT OF THE CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS. ONLINE AT GENPROGRESS.ORG.

PHOTO BY ANDRE FORREST

Nick Shook catches up with a few former Kent State athletes on page 27 as they dish on their lives post-play. On page 32, Christina Bucciere asks a retired nurse about caring for a May 4 victim in 1970. And on page 18, Andre Forrest brings us the greatest looking cocktails on downtown venues’ menus.

JENNIE BARR PROMOTIONS DIRECTOR

THROUGH THE LENS: LOOKING BACK AT THE CHESTNUT BURR

THE BURR // APRIL 2014

still houses 244 freshman residents each academic year. As for the building in the photo— Manchester is leaving the structure that housed Kent’s executive offices. Today, it’s an auditorium building known as “Cartwright Hall.” The building was named after Kent State’s 10th president, Carol A. Cartwright, upon her retirement in 2006 after 15 years in office. Cartwright was also the first female president of a state university in Ohio and was named into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame her first year of eligibility. Kent State gives its most influential figures concrete honoraries. Cartwright Hall was dedicated to Cartwright for her strong academic contributions. The esplanade was dedicated to Lester Lefton for his large role in facilitating the connection between campus and the downtown Kent development. As the university welcomes a new leader—12th president Beverly Warren—all can wonder what will become her presidential focus and what building, land or monument may adopt a new name.

The Chestnut Burr was Kent State’s student-produced yearbook, published from 1914 to 1985. In 1986, students Laura Buterbaugh and Thomas Lewis transformed the yearbook into The Chestnut Burr Magazine, which was shortened to The Burr in 1988.

PHOTO BY LEAH KLAFCZYNSKI; 1955 PHOTO BY DON SHOOK

The subject in the top left corner of the black-and-white image is Raymond E. Manchester—Kent’s first “Dean of men.” Don Shook, the editor of the Chestnut Burr during 1955 (when this photo was taken) wrote, “Since 1935, the former dean of men, Raymond E. Manchester has written his famed Saturday Letters. Saturday after Saturday his pen has poured forth these letters until now there are over 750 of them written on every subject imaginable.” The letters were delivered to each male student’s mailbox in Merrill Hall. During World War II, Manchester held a Penny Carnival in order to raise money for postage so he could send his words to Kent State students in the armed forces, according to “A Book of Memories: Kent State University, 1910-1992” edited by William H. Hildenbrand, Dean H. Keller and Anita Dixon Herington. The text also claims Manchester was “the human face and voice of Kent State” until his retirement in 1954. Manchester passed away in 1974 at 90 years old, but the building dedicated to him in 1963 as a branch of the Eastway Center

STATE

}

OF THE

UNIVERSITY 1.

THE GOOD

Kent State names Beverly Warren its second female president in university history.

Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Kristy Welshhans is one of four researchers awarded grants by the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation USA for her research on Down Syndrome. She and her team will explore their discovery that one particular gene can have an early link to Down Syndrome development.

Kent is voted one of the top Favorite Vegan-Friendly Colleges during a Peta2 campaign.

}

THE BAD

The men’s basketball team loses its opening game in the MAC Tournament for the first time since 1997.

THE BURR // APRIL 2014

}

The university plans to award associate degrees to students pursuing bachelor’s degrees after their second year, helping the university draw more state funding while allowing students to gain degrees traditionally awarded at branch or community colleges. This move also dips into other state schools’ funds.

ON THE FENCE

A polar vortex enveloped much of the Midwest bringing too much snow and frigid temperatures.

2. 2.

Wright Hall staff finds bottles of urine in trash cans on multiple floors of the residence hall. That’s just gross, guys.

PHOTOS BY LEAH KLAFCZYNSKI (PRESIDENT, BASKETBALL); GRAHAM SMITH (WINTER); KENT STATE UNIVERSITY (KRISTY WELSHHANS); PETA2 LOGO COURTESY OF PETA2

THE LOOP SPRING 2014

STUDENT THEATRE PREVIEW WORDS BY LUCY MERRIMAN PHOTO BY LEAH KLAFCZYNSKI

KENT DANCE ENSEMBLE: “MOVIN’ ON UP!” 7 P.M. APRIL 4-6, E. TURNER STUMP THEATRE Director Kimberly Karpanty says, “The Kent Dance Ensemble provides selected KSU dance majors and minors with teaching and performance challenges to help bridge the gap between university study and the world of professional modern and jazz dance companies.”

All tickets can be reserved at the box office by calling 330-672-2787. Most of these productions are either free to the public or free to students, but tickets are still needed. You can also buy tickets at the door, but you might run the risk of them selling out. The box office is open from noon until 5 p.m. on weekdays.

STUDENT THEATRE FESTIVAL: “DR. FAUSTUS” AND “BEYOND THERAPY” 8 P.M. APRIL 11-12, 2 P.M. APRIL 13, EZ BLACK BOX THEATRE Director and senior theatre studies major Timothy Welsh says, “Dr. Faustus” is “the story of a world-renowned theologian and physician who sells his soul to the devil for 10 years of endless knowledge, bliss, fame and wealth.” It was originally written in the 16th century for an Elizabethan audience. The trick, Welsh explains, is to get the story to resonate with a contemporary audience. Movement and choreography is also added to the play. “Beyond Therapy,” directed by theatre studies major Matthew Wheeler, is an 80’s romantic comedy about two people—Prudence and Bruce—who are trying to find love in the crazy urban center of Manhattan, and dealing with it all by visiting incompetent psychiatrists.

“PRIDE AND PREJUDICE” 8 P.M. TUESDAY - SATURDAY, 2 P.M. SUNDAY APRIL 18-27, WRIGHT-CURTIS THEATRE Directed by Joseph Hanreddy, a visiting director hailing from Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, “Pride and Prejudice” is a familyfriendly show based on Jane Austen’s popular Victorian novel.

DANIELLE STEVENS’ SHOWCASE 5 P.M. APRIL 30, EZ BLACK BOX THEATRE At the end of every semester, Danielle Stevens, an instructor who teaches hip-hop dance classes, hosts a performance showcase for her students. Performers, who are mostly non-dance majors, bring original choreography they’ve previously presented in class. University recognized groups, including LEGACY and Golden Reflections, also perform. The event doubles as a fundraiser for a charity chosen by the students.

Mackenzie Duan, starring as Elle Woods, and the ensemble perform “What You Want” in Kent State’s “Legally Blonde” during the Saturday, March 1 showing in E. Turner Stump Theatre. The musical, directed by Amy Fritsche and performed by The Kent State School of Theatre and Dance, sold out two weekends in a row.

KENT’S

METAPHYSICAL MINDS

WORDS BY CHRISTINA BUCCIERE

CHRISTINA BUCCIERE SEEKS OUT THE MOST INTRIGUING PEOPLE OF THE SUPERNATURAL KIND IN AND AROUND KENT.

THE BURR // APRIL 2014

PHOTO BY LEAH KLAFCZYNSKI

Professional psychic Samantha Wilmoth specializes in tarot, which utilizes a special deck of playing cards for divination—a way that psychics attempt to gain supernatural insight. Tarot has been used for this purpose since the 18th century.

et’s just say you wouldn’t be surprised to learn Samantha Wilmoth is a professional psychic. Her wild, auburn hair falls nearly to the small of her back. A green and yellow tunic-style top allows the corner of her colorful tattoo to peek through near her right collarbone. Her home, too, has trademark, psychic qualities. Dark wood floors and shelves cast a shadow on the reading room. The small space is cluttered with knickknacks, books and papers. She motions for me to sit in the chair opposite her desk, which is occupied by a slender cat, Onyx, that pads away through a curtained doorway as I approach. As far as I can tell, there is no crystal ball on site, but I keep my skepticism at the ready just in case things get too implausible. I am skeptical, yes, but I am not unenthusiastic. This is an experience I’ve been after for some time. My motivation stems from a combination of uncertainty about the future and a long-harboured affinity for the possibility of the supernatural. She asks me to separate a stack of tarot cards into three piles. Then I choose the pile from which she will read. As Wilmoth describes it, the tarot cards help her illustrate the messages she receives. For the majority of the reading, she uses the cards to give me guidance. Most of my cards show a variation of the sword, which, in my own translation, means I think about and worry over things far too much for my own good. This is not necessarily a revelation for me, but her ability to pick up on that characteristic piques my curiosity. Every so often, she strays from the cards and mentions a feeling or visual she receives that interrupts her reading. “There’s a way for you to do both things you want to do, you know,” she says out of nowhere. I am genuinely surprised by this given that I have been wrestling with my career path for some time—a writing career, a counseling degree or both? Although she never speaks in concretes, always going for the vague interpretation rather than absolutes, I leave Wilmoth’s house feeling like she saw me. She picked up on aspects of my personality without knowing me for more than an hour. But more importantly, she gave me advice about my current path, both aspects that are going well and challenges I will need to overcome. Wilmoth says her first metaphysical experience was at the age of 6 when she was visited by her grandfather’s spirit. When she told her parents about her encounter, they were frightened. At 18, Wilmoth moved out and lived in a communal home with others who shared her ability, helping to develop her skills and begin providing professional readings, with which she now has more than 40 years of experience.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY AMANDA LANG

THE LOOP

IF YOU NEED A PSYCHIC/TAROT READER:

IF YOU NEED AN ASTROLOGER:

IF YOU NEED A PSYCHIC/MEDIUM:

Darcy Angle Darcy Angle grew up in a family that had healing and psychic skills, so she has always been drawn to all things metaphysical. That’s why it’s hard to pin down her specialty skill because she says she has many: tarot reading, hypnotherapy, past-life regression, and more. If you want to visit Angle for a basic reading, she will use tarot cards to illustrate her clairaudience—her said power to hear sounds and messages. Although she says she can perform readings by simply holding a client’s hand, she prefers to use tarot cards to provide an artistic representation of the messages she receives. She says this is easier for people to understand and provides the clearest reading possible. “I try to build rapport with people,” Angle says. “I ask them what they want to get out of the reading; what is it they want to know? That’s what I’m here for.”

Luna Hart Luna Hart has been practicing astrology for more than 35 years. Using your time, location and date of birth, Hart can calculate your natal chart, or your “owner’s manual.” This, Hart says, tells her everything about you: what you look like, your talents, stressors, mental processes, career plans, how you will make your mark on the world, how you will earn money. That’s why Hart says she is a great resource for college students who are struggling with their career path. Hart also looks at how the planets are aligned to see how it is affecting your chart. She says the planets can explain a rough patch or predict good things to come. “When I send someone away, I want to send them away with insight, clarity, choices and resources,” Hart says. “I want to give them a way to help fix whatever they need help with.”

Laura Lyn Laura Lyn was five years old when she had her first encounter with a spirit. Ever since, Lyn has been refining her skills and relaying messages to her clients. Lyn calls it “tapping into your highest counsel,” which is comprised by loved ones who have passed and spirit guides. Essentially, it’s your spiritual team. Lyn connects with the spirits by hearing, feeling and visualizing them, but each spirit is channeled differently. “A person’s perspective can change considerably when they hear how many people, spiritual beings, are pulling for them,” Lyn says. “It helps people see a new light and inspire them to be their greatest self.”

$30/half hour, $60/hour, 330-773-1311 for appointment

$35/half hour, $25 for students 330-842-3323 for appointment

$75/half hour, $150/hour 330-618-7428 for appointment

Her predictions, or “likelihoods” as she calls them, come to her as messages from spirits. Although she says she does see spirits in a physical form, it is more common for her to see “wrinkles” in the air that carry messages. She also sees energy coming off of her clients, and this energy is different for everyone. “Sometimes it’s colors, sometimes it’s symbols or waves of energy,” Wilmoth says. “It’s a manifestation of your higher self showing guides.” While the psychic stereotype is in some ways validated through Wilmoth, there is one interesting way in which she dispels the cliché altogether. “What I do is inside all of us,” Wilmoth says. “It’s not something that’s only for a select group of people. For me, it’s just more on the surface. But if everyone just paid more attention to their true selves, they could connect with their higher self, and I wouldn’t have to read people anymore.”

IF YOU NEED A TAROT READING: Samantha Wilmoth 330-354-2411 for appointments $40 for basic reading, $70 for 2-hour, intensive reading OR Empire 135 E. Main St., Tuesday 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., 5- to 10-minute reading with a minimum $10 purchase

OR The Nest, Student Center “Mystic Mondays” 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., no cost, 5-minute reading

HIGH CLASS BY THE

GLASS SLIP BACK IN TIME AS THE SECRET CELLAR ADDS WINE AND JAZZ TO THE DOWNTOWN SCENE. WORDS BY KELSEY HUSNICK TOP: Secret Cellar owners Jim and Amy Bragg celebrate the opening night of their modern speakeasy.

THE BURR // APRIL 2014

PHOTOS BY LEAH KLAFCZYNSKI (COUPLE); SAMANTHA PLACE (WINE GLASSES)

omething about indulging in a perfect glass of wine offers a temporary escape from reality. That’s exactly what the Secret Cellar is: an escape. Nestled in the Acorn Corner basement, below Buffalo Wild Wings on Main Street, you’re transported back in time as you walk down the stairs into a world of 1920s speakeasy wine, craft beer and Gatsby-inspired jazz and glam. It’s the exact feel owners Amy and Jim Bragg were going for when they designed Kent’s very own downtown wine bar. “It’s speakeasy, you know, it’s supposed to be hush-hush. Not that we’re illegal, but at the same time it’s giving that illusion— being underground, hidden off the beaten path,” Amy says. Her voice breaks off into a cackling laugh, as it does frequently during conversation. Her dark eyes light up as if she’s talking to a dear friend, even when she’s just met you. Inspired by their own 1920s home, complete with an acre of functioning vineyards and wine cellars, the couple intertwined different elements of the era to create the Secret Cellar, which opened Dec. 5, 2013— the 80th anniversary of the end of prohibition. The location used to be the speakeasy portion of the old Franklin Hotel (now Acorn Corner), which also opened in 1920, so it felt natural to keep the tradition alive. Candles illuminate half-moon, cushioned booths along the left wall, reminiscent of those in traditional speakeasies. “In the ‘20s, a lot of the speakeasies would have had individual booths. They were kind of aligned so they would open up the main floor area and they could dance, but they still had a place where they could sit down, and if there were gangster dealings they had the higher [booth] walls so they could do their business,” Amy explains. What the couple found as they were researching, though, was that most speakeasies weren’t all that glamorous, and they needed to incorporate something else in the design. “Speakeasies were torn up,” Amy says. “[They were] literally in a hole-in-the-wall. They were grungy, and there just wasn’t anything to them. So we were like, ‘Well, this is kind of boring. It still has character, but it’s kind of boring.’ So that’s when we said, ‘Well what else was in the 1920s and ‘30s? Gatsby style. Flapper style.’ It brings a little more high-glam into it. So we kind of merged the two together so we brought some kind of class and appeal, but also meet speakeasy.” The theme carries through, with classic Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and the like playing during the early hours of the night and jazz-fusion and funk playing later.

THE LOOP The main floor is open and the tables can be pushed out of the way for dancing. Amy says she hopes to incorporate a full-on swing night in the near future. Wine-tasting nights were also recently introduced at the Secret Cellar. Since late January, customers have had the opportunity to learn about select wines with the Cellar’s own wine stewardess. It’s a reasonably priced and fun way for people to expand their wine knowledge and tastes, Amy says.

Her own taste has changed and matured since her early wine-drinking days. While she used to enjoy the typical, sweet White Zinfandels and blushes, now she says, “What I’ve found is that I’m a completely dry, earthy kind of almost dirt-tasting drinker.” Amy’s favorites available at the Cellar are the Vietti Cascinetta Moscato d’Asti, a white, semi-sweet wine from Piedmont, Italy, and Hedges Family Estate Red Mountain, a blend of Cabernet, Merlot and Syrah from Washington.

KNOW YOUR POUR WINE WISDOM COMES IN HANDY, FROM GIRLS’ NIGHT TO DINNER DATES

Overwhelmed when confronted with a staggering wine list full of foreign names when all you know is the difference between a red and a white? We’ve constructed a quick cheat sheet, with the help of Geography of Wine professor Tony Carlucci, so you know what cork you’re popping. Cabernet Sauvignon: “It’s the king of the reds,” Carlucci says. Originally from the Bordeaux region of France, it’s a famous Napa Valley wine that pairs well with red meats, especially steaks and pastas. It’s a dry wine with less than .75 percent residual sugars and more tannins (meaning vitamins, minerals and other health benefits) than other red wines.

Chardonnay: Carlucci says this dry, medium-bodied wine is “the king of whites.” It’s usually oak-aged and is the only white wine that undergoes a second fermentation process, the same way most reds do. This softens the wine and reduces the acidity of it, making it balanced, soft and easy to drink. Chardonnay is paired best with seafood, chicken, pork, veal and turkey. Riesling: A white wine originally made famous in Germany, this grape thrives in cooler climates and is popular in Northeast Ohio wineries, such as Ferrante near Geneva on the Lake. They range from dry to sweet, pairing nicely with appetizers. Carlucci says Rieslings also make nice ice wines, meaning the grapes are frozen on the vines and pressed cold, intensifying the sugars and creating a sweet, dessert wine served best chilled.

Merlot: This red is generally softer and lighter in color and flavor than the Cabernet. It’s also lighter in tannins. While Merlot also originated in the Bordeaux region, it’s famous from other parts of the world as well, including Chile and Australia. It pairs best with steaks, pork and poultry.

Pinot Grigio: This Italian white wine has a lighter body and is fermented cold. It has citrusy tones, including grapefruit, lemon and apple and is dry but fruity. Although it’s typically an appetizer wine, it pairs well with seafood and chicken. Carlucci says, “It’s not at all too intimidating, very easy to drink and a fun wine.”

Pinot Noir: A medium red wine with soft tannins, Carlucci says, “It’s one of the greatest wines in the world. A lot of wine snobs or wine pros really like Pinot Noir. It’s got a silky texture.” It’s made from a cooler climate grape and is paired best with salmon, but also works well with barbeque foods, pizza and other meats.

White Zinfandel: Invented by the Sutterhome winery in California in 1979, it’s a very sweet blush wine with 2 to 6 percent residual sugars. It’s typically light red or pink in color with no tannins at all. Served cold, Carlucci says it’s best served with cold cuts and sandwiches on a picnic or summer day.

❝

WE WERE LIKE, ‘WHAT IF WE JUST DID SOMETHING SMALL, YOU KNOW, A LITTLE WINE BAR OR SOMETHING, AND WE CAN LEARN EVEN MORE AS WE GO. SO THIS IS WHAT TURNED OUT. IT JUST TURNED INTO JAZZ AND WINE AND FOOD AND ALL KINDS OF CRAZINESS.” AMY BRAGG

While the Braggs couldn’t possibly try every wine in the Cellar’s bottle selection, Amy says they try to get a healthy mix of wines from every grape region. That’s important because the soil conditions, watering systems, sunlight and drainage in each region will affect the grapes and flavor of the wine. “Grow an orange here in Ohio and grow an orange in Florida,” Amy says. “It’s a big difference. One’s kind of juicy and one’s kind of bland. It’s the same thing with grapes.” Of course the couple also focuses on what they know is popular. “Everyone is comfortable with a Cab[ernet],” Amy says. “Wines are very trendy. Cabs are really popular right now. Everyone is kind of obsessed with that dry, but not crazy dry, kind of wine.” There’s a price selection for everyone, ranging from $16 to $120 a bottle. If you can’t finish it, don’t worry—they have a free re-corking service. If you’re still not up for the whole bottle, or want to try a few different selections, you can order glasses of wine from the tap. It’s an unusual feature, and one Amy says catches people off guard at first and then leaves them pleasantly surprised. “People are hesitant. It’s an unknown territory. Why am I getting a glass out of a keg, it’s a little weird,” she jokes. The kegs run off of their own separate nitrogen systems, unlike regular carbon dioxide-based systems, and allow the red and white wines to be kept on different temperatures. White wines stay chilled, and red wines are at the perfect room temperature. This system also aerates every glass, so you’ll see little bubbles in the glass as if it was poured into a decanter. The kegs are kept airtight, so the wine stays fresh.

THE BURR // APRIL 2014

“With this, it’s like your first glass with every single pour, all the way through the entire keg,” Amy says. “That’s the positive; the wine is really never bad.” The system also allows the Braggs to buy really nice wines at a cheaper, bulk price. The discount is offered down the line, and customers can enjoy a fine selection at $8 a glass. The 37-year-old entrepreneurs have multiple retail and service businesses between Stow and their home in Peninsula, but this is their first experience with a restaurant bar, and it’s their first time opening a place in Kent. “We were like, ‘What if we just did something small, you know, a little wine bar or something, and we can learn even more as we go,’ ” Amy says. “So this is what turned out. It just turned into jazz and wine and food and all kinds of craziness.” It’s a craziness that Amy can’t get away from. She and her husband are hands-on owners and managers, spending every Tuesday through Saturday night at the Cellar working with their small staff of 13, usually from before open until closing time, except for when Jim leaves early to put their three daughters to bed. It’s gotten to the point where even some of the staff is concerned. Whitney Whaley, a 25-year-old senior athletic training major who’s been bartending at the Cellar since it opened, called to make Amy a hair appointment because she hadn’t left the bar in so long and needed to freshen herself up. “I think I threatened at one point to call the cops and have her escorted out,” Whaley joked. When the Cellar gets busy, Amy and Jim work right alongside their staff, waiting tables, bartending and working in the

kitchen. Because everything on the limited menu is cut fresh when ordered, the kitchen is often backed up. With a small space to begin with, and with their basement location, the Braggs couldn’t put an oven, deep fryer or other big kitchen equipment in the spot. They had to develop a menu around cold plates and paninis, which can be made easily on a sandwich press. “It slows us down,” Amy sighs. “Some of the people have said the service is a little slow, but that’s because we’re literally making everything fresh.” Patrons can pair their wines with cheese boards, salads made with freshsqueezed grapefruit or Chardonnay-infused dressings, bruschetta or fondues. As far as other drinks on the menu besides wine, the Secret Cellar holds six craft beers on tap and 15 bottles, many of which you won’t find at other bars. Amy is also in the process of developing a special cocktail list. “We’re taking it back. We’ve been doing a lot of research on cocktails they offered in the 1920s and ‘30s that were popular,” she says. “What we’re going to do is give them all really fun 1920s slang names.” Until that happens, Amy, Jim and their staff are taking the Cellar day-byday. They all still have a lot to learn about the wine business, and it’s proving to be an ongoing adventure. “We’re still learning,” Amy says. “Our staff is still pretty new compared to a wine world. It takes a while to really know what you’re doing with the wine. It’s a neverending training, really.” B

ICED BLUE RASPBERRY FROM 157 LOUNGE Svedka Raspberry Svedka Citron Blue Curacao Liqueur Part pineapple Part lemon lime soda

THE BURR // APRIL 2014

KENT’S FLASHIEST COCKTAILS NEON BLUE, BIRTHDAY SPRINKLES AND AN ODE TO A FORMER MOVIE STAR– WE PROMISE THESE DRINKS TRULY TASTE AS GOOD AS THEY LOOK. PHOTOS BY ANDRE FORREST

CARAMEL A P P L E MARTINI FROM 157 LOUNGE Svedka Vodka Green Apple Pucker Caramel Swirled glass Cherry garnish

$7.50

PANINI-TINI

FROM PANINI’S Smirnoff Orange Blue Curacao Orange juice Pineapple Sprite

THE BURR // APRIL 2014

SAKE-TINI

FROM NEWDLE BAR Sake Vodka Cucumber

RASPBERRY LEMON DROP FROM NEWDLE BAR Absolute Citron Sour Dash of Razzmatazz

MARILYN MONROE FROM NEWDLE BAR Strawberry vodka Cream Cranberry

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PORTRAIT OF AN

AMERICAN COLLEGE

SIM

DYLAN SONDERMAN FINDS THAT PLAYING THE LIFE-SIMULATION GAME, “THE SIMS,” WAS A LOT EASIER THAN MAINTAINING HIS OWN COLLEGE LIFESTYLE. WORDS BY DYLAN SONDERMAN ILLUSTRATION BY AMANDA LANG

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s soon as you step through the door, the smell hits you. There is dirty laundry everywhere, hanging from the lampshade, oozing out of the basket. Your stomach growls piteously, and you remember that you skipped breakfast. You can’t shake the feeling that your furnishings could use an upgrade. That wall seems to be missing something, perhaps a painting. That homework assignment still gnaws at the back of your mind, and you try and rationalize: “I’ve already gotten something done! I at least created the Word document and put my name on it!” You sigh and slip out of your heavy coat. You feel sweaty and want nothing more than to take a shower, but you have to grab that laundry card and put money on it so you can start washing clothes, and how you just wish you could get some sleep! Before anything else, you have to run to the bathroom.

THE FEED SIMULATING REAL LIFE: TUTORIAL Sound familiar? Your Sims would likely agree. The life simulating game has enabled millions of us to vicariously live out our career and design fantasies, among other things. For any who don’t know, “The Sims” is a PC video game franchise featuring three main entries (“The Sims,” “The Sims 2,” and “The Sims 3,” with a fourth currently in development). The games allow the players to create their own Sims and customize just about every aspect of these virtual people. A lot of thought can go into this because there are so many different facets to each Sim. Your Sims have aspirations for careers and romance, personality types and traits, skills and failings, and they have feelings too. Their mood/need meters can mirror ours more closely than it may appear. However, keeping them happy isn’t too hard, even for a newbie gamer. Keeping yourself happy, on the other hand, can test the skills of even the most experienced veterans of college life.

PLAYING THE GAME OF LIFE Nothing you can do for your Sims permanently satisfies any need. Just like that pesky garbage can that keeps filling back up, that pile of laundry that always seems to grow, the sink full of dirty dishes you’ve been meaning to get around to washing or the ever fluctuating number at the top of your bank statement, it is always a process of trying to keep these aspects of the Sim’s life (or yours) together. While there are a limited amount of ways a Sim can “grow,” ultimately the game is a process of making long-term changes and improvements in them by satisfying the short term where necessary, but also sending them to work and having them build their skills and intellect. This process really seems simple broken down like that, doesn’t it? If only our young lives were as simple. “The Sims” focuses on cultivating the same skill found at the core of any truly happy college student: the ability to delay gratification when necessary, but know when it’s time to relax and have fun. I think the word that best describes this is balance. This isn’t all that challenging to do in “The Sims.” The game is structured to make this as feasible as possible. However, life isn’t always as user friendly, and, occasionally, it seems like you’re stuck on the “Expert” difficulty setting.

RESIDENCE HALL LIFE: THE METER IS RUNNING! There is a lot that can be learned about life in college (and in general) from these games. On Kent State’s main campus, during freshman year, many students live in the basic residence halls. At this stage, their room and environment need is difficult to maintain, and the meter could be in the red. Just as in “The Sims,” after certain goals are completed, the player gets to move to a better location, and the college student gets to move up to a fancier residence hall as an upperclassman. Eventually, the real payoff comes with getting your own apartment or a house with friends. But if you let pizza boxes and beer cans pile up all over, your room meter will go down all the same. The room motive is one of the more subtle meters in the game, and also in life. It’s the pride you take in the space you live, the decorations, the neighborhood, the cleanliness. For me, the clutter in my room seems to mirror my mental clutter, and trust me, that is no way to keep your brain.

Speaking of cleanliness, all Sims have a hygiene need. If you don’t keep your Sim’s hygiene up, their performance will suffer in all areas, and their overall mood will steadily decline. Like your Sims, you will feel much better knowing that you are taking care of yourself. Sure, skipping one shower might not seem like a big deal, but you are on thin ice at this point. Take care of yourself. You deserve it. The comfort need is a simple one: it represents the difference between physical fatigue and relaxation. To make your Sim’s comfort meter goes back up, you can have them sit on a comfortable chair, lie down on the couch (TV optional) or take a relaxing bath. Again, this holds true for stressed-out college students, but sometimes just walking into your place, knowing you will have no reason to leave for the rest of the day and taking your shoes off can bring loads of comfort, though temporary. Your Sims really throw a fit if their needs are not met, and I know I tend to scream gibberish and jump around the room (sorry, neighbors) when my meters are low. That’s why it’s important to stay on top of these things.

SIMTOPIA: THE BLISS OF BALANCE Your Sims need positive interaction with other Sims. In the game, this is as simple as dragging one of them over with your omnipotent hand, making their puppet strings dance and forcing the conversation to things your Sim likes, to boost their mood. Have you ever tried this in real life? Suffice to say, it’s unlikely to improve your friendships, but you still need positive social interaction. Emphasis on positive. Arguing with people in the YouTube comments or scrolling through Facebook is not the same as spending time with your friends. When this crazy world doesn’t make sense, who’ll be there to slap some sense into you otherwise? Whose shoulder will be there for you to cry on when you don’t get that internship you’d been hoping for? If you’re still tempted to follow this “slave to the grind” idea, look at people you know who are the “hard workers,” who are so committed to success and yet never have any fun. How happy do they seem? Enough said. Be like your happy Sims: strive for balance.

“The Sims” is a video game series that has earned many fans and much acclaim. The game is a life-simulation engine, where the player builds a “Sim,” customizing the Sim’s appearance, clothing, habits and tendencies. The Sim is then placed in a house, and the player must keep all of the various meters from building up. In “The Sims,” these meters are referred to as needs or motives (“moodlets” in the “The Sims 3”). Aside from basic and self-explanatory needs such as hunger, bladder and sleep, the other needs show up in everyday life, especially for us college students.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE KENT STATE ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT

THE ACADEMY

AFTER THE FINAL WHISTLE LIFE AFTER SPORTS CAN BE A HARSH REALITY FOR WHICH MANY ATHLETES ARE UNPREPARED. WORDS BY NICK SHOOK

Although Brian Frank only started one game in his college career, he was captain of the team his senior year, and one of the fans’ favorite players. If a win was imminent, fans would chant for Frank to be put in at the end of the game.

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For example, take a look at Brian Frank. Kent State’s former favorite walk-on basketball player has graduated and walked straight into a $50,000-plus-per-year job at the Cleveland Clinic as a project manager. Sounds like a great first step after college, but Frank would rather be back on the court. “[Not being involved in athletics] sucks,” he says as he sits in a top floor lounge with multiple wide windows offering a vast, picturesque view of Cleveland at the J Sydell & Arnold Miller Family Pavilion. “It’s like the worst feeling ever. That’s

why I go back to every single game. If I’m not doing anything, if I’m not out of town, I’m at the basketball games. It’s just like my way of staying connected, I guess.” Frank started in exactly one game during his college career at Kent State: senior night 2013. He was the guy at the end of the bench who was excellent at waving a towel and clapping vigorously, though that isn’t to demean his value to the team, which far outweighed his actual career minutes played. He was one of three captains as a senior and a beloved personality to the Kent State student section.

PHOTO BY CHELSAE KETCHUM

ans cheer their accomplishments. Media members laud their play. Some even see their jerseys retired in the rafters of their school. What happens after a Division I athlete sees his or her playing days end can often be a convoluted, winding journey that doesn’t always end by reaching financial success. Couple that with the loss of constant attention and higher social status, and it can be difficult to move on with life outside of the spotlight.

THE ACADEMY Now, he spends his 40 hours per week in a cramped room with poor ventilation and a broken Keurig machine. Granted, he’s dressed to impress, wearing full suits, stylish shirts, ties and a pair of glasses. He finds enjoyment in wearing the most outrageous, but still business appropriate socks he can find. They can be seen when he sits at his cubicle, one of six stuffed into a room the size of a freshman college dormitory. Frank can be seen at most Kent State home games, sitting halfway up the lower bleachers behind the Flashes bench, still dressed in his full suit after having come straight from the Clinic. Yet, Frank is one of the luckier ones. While he capped his collegiate career, began and completed an internship and subsequently accepted a job offer weeks later, many former student-athletes finish their seasons, graduate from college and have no clue what is next. This is what Adrian McBride discovered before he started the non-profit organization Life After Sports, designed to offer advice and experience to struggling athletes. McBride was a wide receiver and special teamer at the University of Tennessee in 1981 before transferring to the University of Missouri, where he played from 19821985. He graduated with a degree in parks and recreation—Missouri’s “program of choice 25 years ago,” he says, explaining that every university nationwide has a major in which they “slide some of the athletes who really didn’t have a game plan or didn’t come from a good academic family.” After spending two seasons in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns and St. Louis Cardinals, and a weeks-long stint with a fledgling Arena Football League team in St. Louis that eventually folded before he ever playing a game, McBride was out of football for the first time since he was 8 years old. He was without any semblance of a plan for the future. “I was the typical athlete who probably thought he was going to play forever and really hadn’t planned ahead in thinking about life after,” McBride says. McBride followed a difficult path, working odd jobs at UPS and as a bellhop at Columbus, Ohio area Hyatt Regency hotels before getting into the job recruiting business, starting his own career coaching/recruiting firm in 1992. After nearly a quarter-century of hard work, he founded Life After Sports, a non-profit organization that later evolved into the for-profit Athletes-In-Transition. The organization’s mission is simple: help high-level athletes (college, Olympic, professional) with career coaching, sports transition and job placement upon retire-

ment from athletics. No major corporation currently tackles this glaring need—once you’re out of the NCAA, NBA, NFL, MLB or NHL, you’re on your own—no transition, no job assistance, no career placement. That uncertain area is where McBride comes in to help. “Things haven’t changed in 25 years,” McBride says. “They’ve been tweaked a little bit, rules and regulations have been tightened up a little bit, but even today I still talk to young athletes who are walking out with some—excuse my language—some bullshit degrees like general studies or general ed, and they were basically slotted into these programs to kind of keep them on the field and keep them moving forward toward graduation.” These same athletes, coddled and helped through college on academic training wheels, cross the commencement stage, shake the dean’s hand and suddenly have to fend for themselves. “The bottom line is, the numbers look better from a graduation standpoint, but the results are still the same,” McBride says. “They’re graduating, yes, but the bottom line is they have zero career development skills. None of them have interned, job shadowed, most don’t have a resume and they’re just floundering out there in the real world.” Many of these athletes, uncertain about their futures, find themselves falling back into athletics as a source of comfort and familiarity. A portion of these accolade-laden people find success as a coach. Kent State assistant men’s basketball coach DeAndre Haynes is on track to becoming a part of this group. Haynes was once Kent State’s prized point guard, Mid-American Conference Player of the Year and leader of a team that won the MAC Tournament in 2006. Now, Haynes is back where his career flourished, hoping to help the next crop of Flashes continue the program’s excellence. “It was tough to leave this place to be honest,” Haynes says. “I cried my last game. I cried when we lost in the [NCAA] Tournament, I cried when we won the MAC Championship, and I cried at our banquet because this school meant so much to me. Just thinking about this coming to an end was kind of heartbreaking, because you’ve been here for four years and basically this school raised me, so it was tough preparing for my last game.” Haynes spent six years playing for various FIBA teams across Europe. He enjoyed a career that continued to offer opportunities to excel at the professional level, but it took eight months for him to get his first tryout. The uncertainty of his future ate away at Haynes while he spent each day working

[NOT BEING INVOLVED IN ATHLETICS] SUCKS. IT’S LIKE THE WORST FEELING EVER. THAT’S WHY I GO BACK TO EVERY SINGLE GAME. IF I’M NOT DOING ANYTHING, IF I’M NOT OUT OF TOWN, I’M AT THE BASKETBALL GAMES. IT’S JUST LIKE MY WAY OF STAYING CONNECTED, I GUESS.” Brian Frank

out at various locations, including the Palace of Auburn Hills in suburban Detroit, Mich., alongside Detroit Pistons players Richard Hamilton and Chauncey Billups. Once regarded as the best player in his conference, he was relegated to training on a daily basis without knowing if he’d ever get a chance to continue playing the sport that defined him. “I was stressed out,” Haynes says. “I didn’t know if I was going to get a job overseas. I was like, ‘Man I’m still here. I was the MAC Player of the Year. I’m not getting a job while all of these others guys are getting a job.’ And then that call came for me. I was like, ‘Whew.’ It was a lot of weight off my shoulders.” After his sixth season, Haynes and his wife Tierra had a discussion about their family’s future—a talk that Haynes says the two “still argue about to this day.” Tired of constantly moving across Europe with their son DeAndre Jr., Tierra was ready to move back home to Ohio and settle down to have another child, but Haynes wasn’t ready to give up his playing career. That changed when Haynes received a phone call from former Flash Jordan Mincy, working as an assistant on the coaching staff at Kent State, about a potential job opening. “What better thing to do than start where it started for me?” Haynes says.

I CRIED MY LAST GAME. I CRIED WHEN WE LOST IN THE [NCAA] TOURNAMENT, I CRIED WHEN WE WON THE MAC CHAMPIONSHIP AND I CRIED AT OUR BANQUET BECAUSE THIS SCHOOL MEANT SO MUCH TO ME. JUST THINKING ABOUT THIS COMING TO AN END WAS KIND OF HEARTBREAKING, BECAUSE YOU’VE BEEN HERE FOR FOUR YEARS AND BASICALLY THIS SCHOOL RAISED ME, SO IT WAS TOUGH PREPARING FOR MY LAST GAME.” DeAndre Haynes

Haynes and his wife, who is also a graduate of Kent State, moved back home, where he began the next phase of his life as a basketball coach under head coach Rob Senderoff. But for Haynes, going from star athlete to assistant coach was still a difficult adjustment. “It was just tough, sitting behind a desk every day, because it’s different,” Haynes says. “You spend hours in the office trying to break down film for these games to get players ready to learn every team’s offensive, defensive tendencies. It was just something I wasn’t used to, giving scouting reports and stuff like that.” Unlike Frank, Haynes never had to make the transition out of athletics, something for which he is grateful. But Brian Lainhart didn’t have the same luxury once his professional career came to a sudden halt. The former Flashes’ standout safety signed with the Cincinnati Bengals after the league’s lockout ended in the summer of 2011. He immediately entered training camp in late July, but just a few weeks later, he was out of the league. “I had played really well in one of our last live segments,” Lainhart says. “I went to watch film and the [defensive

THE BURR // APRIL 2014

backs] coach is in there and I ask him, ‘What do I need to keep doing better to make the team?’ He said, ‘Brian, let’s take a walk.’ I was like, ‘Shit,’ because you know that’s never good. “He said, ‘We’re actually going to release you tomorrow. I couldn’t sit here and lie to you. It’s nothing you did, you played amazing. But you’re the only undrafted safety we have.’ ” Lainhart spent the following days working out for the New England Patriots and Cleveland Browns, but a herniated disk suffered during his senior season at Kent State kept him from passing a physical, and thus, signing with a team. He has since had his back surgically repaired and can finally bend over without pain. In November, he worked out for a few NFL teams at a sports facility in Cincinnati and is awaiting a call from a team. In need of a steady source of income, Lainhart joined Jani-King, the largest commercial cleaning company in the world, in April 2013. He works as a business development advisor, selling the services offered by Jani-King. The company has nearly 100 regional offices across the world, including 70 across the U.S., and

cleans some of the biggest venues in the world, including NFL stadiums—the same venues Lainhart hopes to play at in less than six months. Much like his collegiate career, Lainhart is thriving. In his first nine months at the company’s Cincinnati office, he finished as the lone member of the top 20 salesmen who didn’t have at least 15 years of experience. As his jersey hangs framed on a wall inside the Water Street Tavern in Kent, Lainhart remains entrenched in Cincinnati, living with his fiancé and former KSU field hockey player, Amanda Hoffman, and awaiting an NFL opportunity. “I’m a realist at the same time,” Lainhart says. “I know if something doesn’t happen here in the next couple of months, it’s not going to happen.” Former teammate Luke Wollet finds himself in the same situation Lainhart was in three summers ago. The former Flashes’ safety followed Lainhart into the starting lineup as a freshman in 2010 and played for four years on the Kent State defense, known as a hard-hitting defensive back who played much larger than his 5-foot-11, 190-pound frame. That same set of measurements may be the largest factor loom-

PHOTOS BY EMILY KAELIN (PORTRAIT); SUBMITTED PHOTO COURTESY OF THE KENT STATE ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT

THE ACADEMY

DeAndre Haynes played in 129 games as a guard for Kent State, averaging 9.8 points per game. He was team captain from 2004 to 2006. He’s now a prominent member of the coaching staff.

ing against his dream of suiting up in an NFL uniform come fall. “I was born to be 5’11” and a half,” Wollet says. “My hand was just measured last week down in South Carolina. My hand width, my arm length was measured. A lot of things that I can’t control. You’ve just got to be patient. I control the things I can control.” If Wollet’s NFL dream isn’t realized, he’s prepared to make the transition into the business world. His close relationship with Lainhart has set him up with a twomonth, paid internship at Jani-King. After that, he’s ready to return to the Youngstown area, working at his father’s financial advising firm in a two-year program, learning the business as part of Raymond James Financial in Boardman, Ohio. Wollet changed his major from sports administration to educational studies so that he can finish his degree on time in May and enter the professional world. But until then, the Poland Seminary High School graduate is focused on preparing himself for the all-important pro day workout in Kent during the spring, during which multiple NFL scouts will watch closely with clipboards and stopwatches in hand.

“A lot of people think this is going to happen forever, since they’ve been successful with it for so long,” Wollet says. “I’ve spent long hours thinking about what’s next for me. Of course I want the NFL more than anything, but it comes to an end for everybody, whether you’re a 16-year veteran or a practice squad player or whatever.” Wollet is unlike many athletes in that he has spent time preparing for life outside of football. It’s likely more common for student-athletes from mid-major schools like Kent State to consider the end of an athletic career than it is for major college athletes, which McBride says is a disturbingly frequent occurrence with very little advice offered from both schools and the NCAA. “I’d probably put the blame on just about everybody,” McBride says. “The athlete, the athlete’s parents, the coaches, the NCAA, the college or university’s athletic departments, the colleges in general, everybody is to blame. It’s just a shock that in the year 2014, they’re having as many issues today as they did in 1985 or even prior to then. Yes, the graduation numbers are up, but the results are still the same.”

With NCAA schools pushing athletes through coursework and through commencement ceremonies, responsibility for post-athletics preparation falls on the athlete. McBride says those athletes still need help, and they aren’t getting it. “[Transition help] is a giant, apparent need,” McBride says. “The interesting thing is, the NCAA doesn’t want to hear it. The college, university athletic departments don’t want to hear it. They’ve kind of got a little band-aid fix for everybody out there transitioning, but when it comes right down to it, this is not revenue for them. They couldn’t care less. Now, a handful really may care. Maybe they’ve got a set of former athletes in there and they know the deal. Until it’s a revenuegenerating stream, which it never will be, this is nothing to them. “It’s no different than a sports agent. He’ll cater to you all day long to sign you, have him do your deal and all that kind of stuff. But when you’re done, he’s done.” B

CARING FOR

MAY 4

BEATRICE MITCHELL, A NURSE WHO TENDED TO A STUDENT WOUNDED IN THE MAY 4 SHOOTINGS, SHARES HOW HER PATIENT’S INJURY TRIGGERED FEAR FOR HER SON SERVING IN THE ARMY THOUSANDS OF MILES AWAY. BY CHRISTINA BUCCIERE

PHOTO BY CHELSAE KETCHUM

unday, May 3, 1970, Beatrice Mitchell called her husband to pick up their 12-year-old daughter from the community center in the McElrath neighborhood of Ravenna Township. Mitchell’s daughter was among a group of McElrath students who were supposed to be picked up by a Kent State bus and taken to campus where student mentors were waiting to show them what a college education looks like. “There weren’t any black students from McElrath who had gone to college at that time, so this was a big deal for the kids,” Mitchell says. “I was frustrated she had missed the bus.” Mitchell’s daughter didn’t miss the bus. The bus never came. The bus never left Kent State’s campus where tension was brewing. “My husband drove my daughter down to campus, but they were turned around by police,” Mitchell says. “Then we started seeing things on the news. Students and the National Guard and protests. It didn’t look good.” Mitchell heard news of disturbances on campus but says demonstrations about the legitimacy of the Vietnam War were common at the time. “It was concerning,” Mitchell says. “But I didn’t think it would ever escalate like that.” By Monday, May 4, 1970, four student protestors were dead, and nine were wounded. Beatrice Mitchell, 84, was one of the nurses on staff at Robinson Memorial Hospital on May 4, 1970, the hospital to

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which the wounded students were taken. Mitchell, then 41, worked the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift that day on the third floor of Robinson Memorial. There, she took care of one of the nine wounded students, Mark Thomas Grace, who sustained a gunshot to the left ankle. Her care for Grace left her with memories of a controversial time unlike others in her age group. “I heard one comment like, ‘They didn’t shoot enough of them,’ or something like that,” Mitchell says, recalling a statement she overheard another nurse make about the students involved in the protest. A group of Kent State students protesting the 1970 decision to invade Cambodia and widen the Vietnam War spurred the intervention of the National Guard that was called in by the governor after he was notified of the disruption by the Kent city mayor. After a series of protests and rallies, drastic measures were taken to disperse the students. The series of events that led to the shooting still remains unclear, but on May 4, 1970, some National Guardsmen did fire into the crowd. “Because of such controversy around those incidents, there were some people employed at the hospital who objected to them [the students] having demonstrated, and then there was other people, like myself, who were against that war,” Mitchell says. “I guess they thought it wasn’t any of the students’ business.” Although there were Robinson Memorial staff members who were in favor of the

I HEARD ONE COMMENT LIKE, ‘THEY DIDN’T SHOOT ENOUGH OF THEM,’ OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.”

Beatrice Mitchell

Vietnam War and disapproved of the protests, Mitchell insists no nurse or staff member let it influence their quality of care. “The nurses knew better than to treat a patient poorly because of their beliefs, but there was just talk amongst the nurses,” Mitchell says. “We would go down to lunch, and there was talk in the cafeteria.

Beatrice Mitchell

I wouldn’t dare say anybody would say anything around the patient, though.” History professor Kenneth Bindas says the controversy surrounding the war that divided the nation was caused by the disparity between how the Cold War generation and the baby boomers viewed America at the time. “The 1960s as a whole was one rife with student protests for a variety of issues.” Bindas says. “Because of the size of the baby boom, the percentage of people protesting, even though it was small, was a large group of people. They were part of a generational cohort that saw that activism was necessary for the transformation of their world.” In contrast, Bindas says the older generations saw things differently. “The older generation thought the younger activists didn’t appreciate their world,” Bindas says. “Their mentality was, ‘We have to clean up the hippies and antiwar people,’ and they saw them as a threat to the world.” However, Mitchell’s anti-war feelings stemmed from a personal connection. Knowing he would be drafted, Mitchell’s son volunteered to serve in the U.S. Army. He left from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport on his 19th birthday, and Mitchell’s heart ached for her son to come home. “It was disrupting young people’s lives, those that didn’t want to go to war,” Mitchell says. “And then my son, he was so young. I wanted that war to close down.” Mitchell’s link to the Vietnam War gave her a different perspective on the shootings at Kent State. That’s why when she arrived to her shift on May 4 and tended to one of the student protestors, she felt more than a nurse’s sympathy for her patient; she felt empathy.

REMEMBERING GRACE Mitchell lifts the glasses hanging around her neck from a chain to the bridge of her nose with one hand and with the other, points to a name on a list. “Mark Thomas Grace,” Mitchell whispers. “I always look for that name every

THE BURR // APRIL 2014

year on the memorial day. He may or may not remember me. I will always remember him, though. I felt his pain and frustration like it was my own. It was my own.” After receiving emergency care for his ankle injury, Grace was moved to the third floor where Mitchell was working. Under the influence of heavy painkillers, Grace’s memories of his hospital stay are hazy. “I don’t remember Mitchell,” Grace says. “I wish I did. I wish I remembered a lot more things than I can. I do remember, though, my care was excellent. It was a hectic time, and I was in a lot of pain, but the nurses took care of me.” But Mitchell remembers Grace. She is eager to point out how she cared for him: T.L.C. “That’s what they always taught us,” Mitchell says. “Always give your patients tender, loving care. Grace, especially, needed that. I felt for him.” That night, Mitchell was tending to two other patients, but Grace was on her mind because, as a mother of a soldier, Grace’s involvement in the protest meant he felt a similar sense of injustice. “He was pretty edgy all night and talking a lot about the incident,” Mitchell says. “It was so tense and unnerving. Grace, yeah, he was shaken up.” At about 3 a.m., Mitchell passed by Grace’s room on the way to bringing another patient some blankets. The sound of Grace’s voice stopped her. She backed up to peer into Grace’s room and heard a onesided conversation. “I went over to his bed and saw that he was sleeping,” Mitchell says. “He must have been having a bad dream. I don’t recall what he said, but he was anxious.” Mitchell gently shook Grace’s arm to wake him from his nightmare. She refreshed his ice water, adjusted his pillows and injected another dose of painkillers into his IV. Then, she sat. She sat down in the bedside chair until Grace dozed off into a drug-induced slumber. And when he did, she sat some more. She sat in that chair to be there for Grace, to be there for her son.

VOICE OF MAY 4 Although 44 years have passed since that day, Mitchell and Grace’s tie is eternal. Upon reaching out to Grace and telling him about Mitchell, he insisted they be connected so he could thank her for her care. Since, they have spoken on the phone and even exchanged Christmas cards. Today, Grace is an assistant professor of history at Erie Community College and is the author of “Kent State: A Legacy of Dissent 1958-1973.” Mitchell is a widowed mother of two. She lives in Ravenna where she is a woman with many interests: painting, writing, poetry, scrapbooking and quilting. Mitchell put this last trade to use in remembering her part in the May 4 shootings. As part of the three-part, “May 4 Voices” project, a 2010 initiative to re-frame the May 4 history through artistic demonstrations, Mitchell contributed a square to the Story Quilt Project. The quilt project invited the public to contribute words and images in remembrance of the day using four, symbolic colors: blue (peace), yellow (hope, happiness, the sacred), white (purity) and green (growth, renewal, strength). Mitchell pushes back her wicker chair from the table and murmurs to herself that she “must have left it around here somewhere.” Surprisingly agile for an 84-year-old, she scours the shelves, tabletops and boxes overflowing with all the pieces of her life: knickknacks, photos and documents. “It’s such a mess around here,” Mitchell laughs. “I’ve been saying ‘I’ll get to it,’ for so many years. But at this point, I’m too old for that nonsense.” She returns from her journey, winded, but smiling. “Here it is,” Mitchell says, placing a yellowed piece of paper on the table. “This is what I put on my square.” The paper includes a hand-written message, a photocopy of her RN badge and the image of her nurse’s pin: a first-aid cross, blue in color. “That was the bit of blue I wanted to include,” Mitchell says. “I just wanted my square to show how I was involved. I’m getting old, you know, and these stories won’t stay with me forever.” She sums up her account of her time with Grace and her tie to the May 4 shootings in 32 words: I am one of the Robinson Memorial third-floor night nurses who gave T.L.C. to Mark Thomas Grace who suffered a leg injury during the May 4, 1970 Kent State National Guard sho otings. B

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

SPORTS INSPIRE FANATICISM IN SOME AND COMPLETE INDIFFERENCE IN OTHERS. THE REALITY IS THAT SPORTS ARE A LARGE PART OF OUR CULTURE THAT’S UNLIKELY TO CHANGE ANY TIME SOON–AND THAT’S A GOOD THING. WORDS BY MATT POLEN ILLUSTRATION BY AMANDA LANG

t’s October 1995, and I am 8 years old. The Cleveland Indians are playing the Atlanta Braves in the World Series. They will lose, keeping with local tradition, but nobody knows it yet. The adults are watching upstairs while the children are playing in the basement. It’s the World Series party equivalent of “the kid’s table.” I don’t remember who my parents invited over or the names of the children I shared my basement with. I don’t remember a lot about that night. What I do remember is the cheering, the screaming and the stomping. I was barely old enough to understand what was going on. All I knew was the Indians were playing in the World Series, and this was a Very Important Thing. Looking at it from the

THE BURR // APRIL 2014

outside, it might have seemed strange how adults watching a game simple enough to be played by children would be more excited than the children themselves. This, I would learn later in life, just about sums it up. By vocation and philosophy, I am a person who can’t help but think critically about anything and everything. Naturally, when I’m not high off of a win, I’m pondering just what it is that draws me to sports. I’ve heard all of the arguments against it—in fact, I’ve made many of them myself. In the mid-2000’s, after the Indians had championship hopes dashed by the Red Sox for the umpteenth time, I went on a five-year hiatus from the sports fandom. My fragile teenage heart had, had enough, and I hated sports with a vengeance.

Sports became a scapegoat. I latched onto every negative talking point that I could, the most obvious one being money. Sports are exorbitantly expensive on all levels, ranging from player salaries to stadium construction costs, all the way down to the price of hot dogs and beer. The most common argument ponders why a school teacher in charge of educating the nation’s youth should be paid so much less than a grown man heaving a ball around a field. To me, sports were the refuge of the uneducated, the shallow and the wasteful. Nevermind the fact that in reality, we collectively determine the value of our entertainment. Even more of a travesty, sports franchises often hold their host cities hostage financially. According to a USA Today

THE FEATURES report, the two recently constructed baseball stadiums in New York City, built for the Yankees and the Mets, were financed in part by nearly $2 billion in tax-exempt or tax-free bonds. While the city owns the stadiums, the teams pay no rent. Taxpayer money, whether they care about the teams or not, finance that entertainment. Sports rivalries also cause a great deal of strife. The rivalry between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants has resulted in, among other things, a brutal beating in 2011 and a fatal stabbing in 2013. In 1965, the teams themselves brawled on the field after one player took his bat to the head of another. Soccer, perhaps more than any other sport, is known for the violent activity of its supporters. Some stadiums in Brazil, home of the 2014 World Cup, have barbed wire fences surrounding the pitch. While these incidents are unfortunate, they are inevitable. Any time there are humans interacting, there is bound to be trouble. Adding in sports, politics and religion makes this even more of a truth. However, the question isn’t whether or not sports are worth having around. There shouldn’t be a need to galvanize public opinion about sports one way or another. This is what I failed to realize as an angsty teenager. Just because I don’t understand something doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have value, at the very least to someone else. Sports are entertainment, and it should simply be accepted that it will continue to be a part of the public identity, just as it has for thousands of years. Like anything in life, sports have both positive and negative aspects. Sports are by and large a great unifier. Aside from religion, war, protests and state funerals, nothing brings more people together at the same time for a common cause than sporting events. If a team is relatively competent, attendance at a game can regularly reach into the tens of thousands. Add in television or internet stream figures, and even one baseball game out of a 162 game season becomes an event that’s hard to ignore. An estimated 3 million people attended the coronation of Queen Elizabeth. Between 2 and 4 million attended the funeral of Pope John Paul II. Around 1 million people attended Barack Obama’s inauguration. Almost 90,000 people attended the Football Association Challenge Cup Final in England in 2012. Three million people attended the parade in Boston when the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004. Last year, more than 74 million people attended professional baseball games. Unlike athletic competitions, a funeral for a pope isn’t something that happens nearly every day. As far as finances go, athlete salaries are what they are because people continue to buy tickets and merchandise. It is the same

with any entertainment commodity. We can lament the fact that firefighters, police officers and teachers aren’t paid as much as most of us feel they deserve, but this isn’t the fault of the athletes. An expensive stadium financed by taxpayer dollars might not be the easiest pill to swallow, but no one can argue that at least as far as New York is concerned, that stadium will create enough of an economic boost to the city to justify itself many times over. The merchandise, the jobs, the influx of fans to local bars and taverns—these things can’t be argued. Sports are a stage, like any form of entertainment. This is different from a movie or a book, because despite the efforts of sports reporters to impose a narrative where there might not otherwise be one, there is no script. These are real people living a part of their lives out on an international stage. As trite of an argument as this may seem, sports teach us lessons as well as provide us with an escape, just like any good piece of entertainment should strive to do. However, these stories have more inherent value because they are the actions of real people. When Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the 1936 summer Olympics in Nazi Germany, he did so as a shining example that we all deserve to be treated equally. Conversely, when an athlete like Lance Armstrong or Alex Rodriguez makes a choice to unlevel the playing field, it is a confirmation and reflection of the propensity to make poor choices that we all face in our lives. If we pay attention to these stories, there are lessons to be learned, both good and bad. In September 2013, I watched the Indians ride what would end up being a 10-game winning streak into the post-season. At one of the final home games, they lost a lead going into the bottom of the ninth inning. Miraculously (as far as sports go), they didn’t lose. Veteran slugger Jason Giambi crushed a towering drive into the right field seats, keeping the streak alive and saving the season (for another week). The stadium erupted in a delirious display of joy not seen since the Golden Era of the mid-to-late 1990s. I wasn’t there, but I was following at home, as I do for nearly every one of the games in the season. My wife happened to be out of the room when the game ended, but she returned to a husband jumping around the room like a toddler and wiping away just as many tears as children that age are prone to shed. In moments like that, few and far between as they are for Indians fans, I never question my reactions. I am irrationally angry and despondent when they lose, and I’m like a kid on Christmas morning when they win. For me, sports is an anchor and a passion. For seven months out of the year, I

can turn on the television any day of the week and know that I’ll be able to watch my Indians play, and that tens of thousands of others around the country are doing the same thing. It’s comforting and invigorating at the same time. For others, it may be a way to connect to parents or relatives. Or maybe they haven’t questioned it at all. I don’t expect everyone to love sports as much as I do, or even to really understand what it is that drives me and so many others to act like complete psychotics during a simple game. For some it might be an escape, while for others it might be a way to connect to other people. We’re all in it for different reasons, but the point is simply this: We’re all in it. B

❝

LOOKING AT IT FROM THE OUTSIDE, IT MIGHT HAVE SEEMED STRANGE HOW ADULTS WATCHING A GAME SIMPLE ENOUGH TO BE PLAYED BY CHILDREN WOULD BE MORE EXCITED THAN THE CHILDREN THEMSELVES. THIS, I WOULD LEARN LATER IN LIFE, JUST ABOUT SUMS IT UP.” MATT POLEN

THE BURR // APRIL 2014

THE FEATURES

FROM BULLETS TO BOOKS LASSANA KANNEH TELLS THE STORY OF HIS JOURNEY FROM THE STREETS OF WARTORN LIBERIA TO THE CLASSROOMS OF KENT STATE. WORDS BY MELISSA PUPPO

THE BURR // APRIL 2014

Some children escaped while four, including Kanneh, were caught. The commanders didn’t say where he and the other 25 children who were captured would be taken, but Kanneh soon discovered he had been enlisted in the second Liberian Civil War. The conflict began when a rebel group emerged in Northern Liberia, calling themselves Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy. During this time, rebel soldiers captured more than 20,000 children, the majority of them between ages 10 and 18, to fight in the war. “We were in one room, one tiny, dark room,” Kanneh remembers about the building to which the children were taken. “We couldn’t see what was going on. We were in there for a few hours and cried. Older commanders [and other child soldiers] kept coming up to the room saying they were going to take us to the front lines as child soldiers.” Kanneh remembers children saying they wanted to go back to their mom and dad, and commanders responded with, “Fuck your mom. You are going to be the same person who kills your mom.” Kanneh and the other child soldiers trained for three months in all weather conditions so they could fight under any circumstance. They learned to shoot a gun, and they learned rebel passwords and escape strategies. Kanneh had no choice whether to fight or not, which is the reason many soldiers began using marijuana to cope with the realities of war. “When I first went on the front line, it

was very strange for me,” he says. “And I was also brave because I was under the influence of drugs, but that was another kind of experience as a child soldier.” Child soldiers were expected to follow all commands. If they were told to torture civilians, they did. If they were asked to destroy people’s property, they didn’t hesitate. “We just had to do it, and if we didn’t do it, your friends and commanders considered you to be an enemy to them,” he says. “I’ve killed,” Kanneh says with hesitation. “Of the 1,000 bullets I’ve shot, maybe two or three were hit. I’ve killed directly and indirectly.” More than once, Kanneh refused to comply with an order. He was beaten and thrown into jail for hours. He remembers listening to music of his culture that motivated him to fight. At times, he and his fellow child soldiers didn’t want to go back to the front lines. Other times, the drugs gave them energy and peace of mind to fight on. “[It was an] angry, political civil war where we were fighting another group of people, but we were all Liberians, Africans—all brothers and sisters fighting one another,” Kanneh explains. Kanneh and the other child soldiers were trained to believe they were on the right side of the war. They believed when someone died, they “died for that country. We were ready at any time. We welcomed death at any time.” Kanneh was never shot, but he was hurt. One day while he and the other child soldiers were standing behind a school building waiting to cross an open field, the

PHOTOS COURTESY OF LASSANA KANNEH

assana Kanneh has lived in Ohio for more than one year, attending school at Kent State University. He’s also taken a life. The scar on his left shoulder is a vestige of a past life he endured as a child soldier—when he was forced to wield a gun in service of his country. March 28, 1987, Kanneh was born into a Liberian family of four: his mother, father and twin brothers. Toward the end of the first Liberian Civil War in 1996, when Kanneh was 3 years old, his father, a businessman who loaned money to others, was at the wrong place at the wrong time. The war spilled onto the grounds where he was working. Kanneh’s father was one of about 250,000 killed during the seven-year-war. “I have no idea of my father. I don’t know about his physical appearance. I don’t know who he was; that’s just a story I was told,” Kanneh says. Kanneh, his mother and twin brothers escaped to Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, where many flocked to safe campgrounds. He rode on his mother’s back, as his two brothers trailed behind. When they reached the city, they arrived to a food and water shortage. The city provided small amounts of rice to women who were pregnant or who had small children. However, it was not enough for four people. His two brothers died of starvation on the same day. For six years, Kanneh lived with his mother as she mourned the loss of her sons and husband. At 9 years old, Kanneh left her to live on the streets. “I found it very important to leave my mom home,” Kanneh says. “To just go on the street and live a life for myself, because I was taught to be good, to leave her alone to think about herself because of her stress.” He remembers trying to find a new place to sleep every night and wearing his clothes for months at a time. He made a close friend, and they walked the streets together, sometimes stealing shoes or food that was left outside of a house. The food was unsanitary. Flies and mosquitos covered the scraps they could find, but anything was better than nothing. One day, Kanneh and other street children were playing a gambling game, illegal in Liberia, trying to win money for food. His back was turned when a group of older men holding guns surrounded them. Kanneh remembers crying, “Please don’t hurt me,” as thoughts of his mother ran through his head. “I could still think of my mom and her condition and the way I left her,” Kanneh says.

THE FEATURES

❝

WE COULDN’T SEE WHAT WAS GOING ON. WE WERE IN THERE FOR A FEW HOURS AND CRIED. OLDER COMMANDERS [AND OTHER CHILDSOLDIERS] KEPT COMING UP TO THE ROOM SAYING THEY WERE GOING TO TAKE US TO THE FRONT LINES AS CHILD SOLDIERS.”

Lassana Kanneh

LEFT: Kanneh in the Everyday Gandhis peace compound in Voinjama, Lofa County, Liberia. ABOVE: Kanneh and the other “peacebuilders” en route to continue peace work in Sarkonedou, Lofa County, Liberia.

enemy launched a missile. Kanneh ducked to avoid the explosion. The bomb missed the actual target, but struck a nearby wall. The wall collapsed, and he was struck by debris. Sand from the rubble blew into his eyes, temporarily blinding him. The scar on his shoulder is a permanent reminder of this day. For five years, Kanneh fought until 2003 when the Liberian President Charles Taylor stepped down, and the once hostile parties negotiated a peace agreement to end the war. “I was so skinny. I was so dirty. I had a lot of hair like a girl, and I could still find myself in the soldier,” he says. He and the others were asked to surrender their weapons in exchange for food

and money. Kanneh and five other child soldiers were disarmed in Voinjama in Lofa County, Liberia. There, they spent four days at a camp specifically built for child soldiers where they were given about $300, a bucket of rice, food, clothing and mentoring on how to reintegrate into the community. “I still found myself vulnerable to the society where maybe I could be easily influenced by another person to fight again if there was another war,” he says. “My condition was still to be a soldier person because once a soldier, always a soldier.” Kanneh says he felt depressed, traumatized and victimized. He dreamed people were plotting to kill him, he was killing others and he was back at war.

“My goal at the time was ‘What can I do to be removed from perpetrator and how to become someone good for my community and how to become a peace builder,’ ” Kanneh says. “I had no good clothes, I couldn’t eat good food. I was still struggling with how I could improve my life.” After officially disarming to the U.N., Kanneh and some other child soldiers received two-year U.N. scholarships. He then enrolled in fifth grade at Voinjama Public School for one year, and then he transferred to St. Joseph Catholic School for sixth and seventh grade. In 2004, Everyday Gandhis, a nonprofit peace organization, registered in the United States and Liberia, came to Liberia to see how they could better the lives of those involved with the war. Kanneh walked for fifteen minutes with five other boys to the Everyday Gandhis compound. Upon his arrival, he met Cynthia Travis, president and founder of Everyday Gandhis, and the woman Kanneh credits with changing his life. Travis took in Kanneh and five other former child soldiers. “I can describe him very clearly,” Travis says softly during a phone interview. “He was gaunt. He had a deer-in-the-headlights look about his eyes.” After a long moment’s pause, she shares something she also told Kanneh— she felt he was one of the children who probably would not recover because “he was really shattered.” “He was shut down, angry, violent, he was not communicative,” she says. “He was unsmiling, he was, you know, just a shell of a person. He was a wreck undone—you know, from taking drugs, drinking, fighting in the streets—he was in rough shape.”

❝ ABOVE: Lassana, now 26, lives in Olson Hall. The only reminder of his past is the scar on his shoulder. RIGHT: Lassana and his colleagues call themselves “Future Guardians of Peace.”

THE BURR // APRIL 2014

Lassana Kanneh

so happy to see me and she knows she holds herself responsible because she couldn’t take care of me during that time [after his father and brothers died]. We were able to reconcile,” Kanneh says. After, he continued to call her two to three times a month. As years passed Kanneh and his other “brothers” attended high school in Liberia. Kanneh went to Voinjama Pentecostal Mission School from eighth to tenth grade, and then moved on to Monrovia at Ricks Institute. After graduating from high school in 2012, Kanneh started looking at colleges. He applied to 18 schools, including Kent State. Later, he received a letter from Kent State, signed by international student advisor Jordan Anderson, that noted interest in Kanneh’s story. “In the letter they said that ‘We really need you in this community. We really want you to learn and be a part of us so we can listen to your stories,’ ’’ Kanneh says. “I felt so encouraged and inspired, and said, ‘I think I can go to Kent.’ ” While he researched the university, he came across the May 4, 1970 shootings that took place on Kent State’s campus. “I wept, and I was so frustrated thinking that could have been me at the time,” he says. The now 26-year-old has been on Kent’s campus since spring 2013. He has since

seen snow for the first time in addition to adapting to the language and customs. He also formed the group, “Peers With Open Ears,” a student organization that encourages students to share their stories and exchange support. The group has been an essential part of Kanneh’s healing process because he likes meeting people, listening to their stories and sharing his own. “I’m proud that I have those experiences, and I still recover,” Kanneh says. “I’m at Kent State today, I’m with other international students, and we are in the same community. I’m not proud of myself for killing somebody. I’m not proud of myself for destroying somebody’s property, but I’m proud of helping other people. I have the belief that I’m going to work with a lot of people by motivating them.” Kanneh hopes to one day go back to Africa and work with young people, women and children. He wants to encourage others to take the same steps that he took to heal. It’s been more than seven years since Kanneh met Travis and Everyday Gandhis. Now, Travis has a different outlook on the former child soldier. “Now to look at him, he’s a remarkable human being,” Travis says. “It’s incredible to see him now and see how he’s thriving.” B

PHOTO BY LEAH KLAFCZYNSKI (LEFT); PHOTO COURTESY OF LASSANA KANNEH (RIGHT)

Travis had Kanneh and the other boys do a lot of physical work such as chopping wood, carrying water in exchange for school fees, food and lodging. “I told them that you are going to live the life of a monk—you are going to have a very short leash—you’re going to have a curfew, you are going to be very visible in the community,” Travis says. “[Travis and Everyday Gandhis] felt it was important for them to feel that they were contributing and working toward their own healing process. We wanted them to have the dignity to have the exchange rather than a handout. We also hoped the physical work would be good to get rid of some energy.” During this time, Kanneh also tried to find his biological mother. “It was important for me to find my mom, so I took time during my healing process to try and meet her.” After describing her appearance to strangers and asking if they recognized her name, Kanneh learned she was in Guinea where the rest of his family moved after the war. Kanneh wanted to see her, but because he’d been a child soldier, he had difficulty crossing the border. He did get word to her and was finally reunited with her at the Everyday Gandhis compound. “She cried, I cried and she said she was

[IT WAS AN] ANGRY POLITICAL CIVIL WAR WHERE WE WERE FIGHTING ANOTHER GROUP OF PEOPLE, BUT WE WERE ALL LIBERIANS, AFRICANS— ALL BROTHERS AND SISTERS FIGHTING ONE ANOTHER.”

THE FEATURES

Kent’s Most Intriguing People FROM A UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT TO BAR OWNER TO BALLOON ARTIST TO DRAG QUEEN, THESE ARE SOME OF THE PEOPLE THE BURR STAFF FOUND WHO GIVE KENT ITS CHARACTER. COMPILED BY THE BURR STAFF EDITED BY ALYSSA MORLACCI, MATT POLEN AND CHRISTINA BUCCIERE

THE BURR // APRIL 2014

THE FEATURES

THE YARN BOMBER

PHOTOS BY LEAH KLAFCZYNSKI

t began on the patio of the Zephyr Pub in 2010. One day, the fence had black wrought iron posts, and the next there was a bloom of color, every other post dotted with a vibrant knit cap. Such was the innocuous beginning of the Kent “Yarn Bomber,” known to the street art underground as the mysterious Yarnigami. Since then, Yarnigami has covered bike racks, lamp posts, trees and fences in downtown Kent with a tight blanket of yarn. Some of the bombed bike racks even have messages hidden in the patterns. The one in front of Last Exit Books reads “A house without books is like a room without windows.” Another, in front of The Kent Stage, reads, “If music be the food of love, play on.” These designs are planned and encourage people to come close and be observant of their surroundings. Yarnigami’s artwork has been noticed by the community, but her identity remains concealed. This is because she feels her pastime is an act of rebellion. Who, in our mass-tweeting, selfie-taking day and age, doesn’t want a little attention? For Yarnigami, her secret identity is integral to the art form. “Yarn bombing is described as graffiti with yarn. It’s stealthy, it’s not asking permission,” she says. “Over the years I haven’t gotten into trouble. I think the city’s not upset with me, so I worry less about it now, but when I started out I was worried about being fined,” she says. Part of avoiding trouble involved following practical safety tips shared by other yarn bombers online—for instance, not covering a fire hydrant or a railing people use. “Now, more, keeping my identity a secret is important because it’s not about me. I’m not important; it’s about the art.” Yarn bombing gained popularity in 2008 when a completely yarn-blanketed tree in Yellow Springs, Ohio, gained national attention. Street art knitting groups have boomed across the world with artists making narrative, creative and even political statements through their chosen medium. A military tank was bombed with a pink, fluffy knit blanket in Coppenhagen, Denmark as an act of anti-war protest. The photograph has since become one of the most iconic yarn bomb pictures on the Internet. For Yarnigami, yarn bombing is about something far simpler: delight. One of her earlier yarn bombing escapades was spent covering the bike rack in front of the Zephyr Pub, which proved to be one that got her hooked. The day after the bombing, Yarnigami chilled in the Zephyr Pub watching pedestrians react to the surprise artwork. “I loved watching people from the Zephyr Pub passing the bike rack—touching it, taking pictures, grinning. It’s like, ‘Yes!’ ” she says, pumping her fist in the air. To understand, one only needs to see where Yarnigami ended up in her Clark Kent life: as an enthusiastic children’s librarian at the Akron Library. “I like kids; mostly, I like all the fun things you can do with kids. I have a lot of fun. My favorite thing is to get to tell stories... the best thing that’s ever happened to me is going and telling a story, and then a month later a kid comes into the library, sees me, and, ‘Ah,’ ” she makes an astonished pointing gesture, “and bursts into song! Bursts into a song from the story. That’s how you know, ‘I’ve really made a difference, really made an impact.’ ” The experience of being a children’s librarian connects seamlessly to the idea of stealth artwork. It’s also what first interested Yarnigami in arts and crafts. For a children’s event several years ago, she had to learn how to make origami birds and flowers, a task which she grew to enjoy. After stumbling upon urban knitting online, Yarnigami realized that yarn bombing is quite similar to the paper art—it’s shaping a flat knit rectangle around a three-dimensional object. An actual yarn bombing event takes about 45 minutes. Beforehand, an artist creates a piece of knit cloth that looks like an

enormous scarf. The cloth is then brought out and folded around whatever is being bombed. Then, the artist, usually with a partner, sews the material in place so it cannot fall off. “I have a husband who puts up with me and helps me,” Yarnigami says. “He’s been out there holding pieces of yarn, and I have a lot of friends who are used to my craziness.” Yarnigami is also involved with the group Knitting for Those in Need, which meets from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the library on varying days throughout the week. The group’s Facebook page has more than 200 likes, and it updates regularly with news of new meetings and projects. Diane Baldridge, one of the group’s founders, says Yarnigami’s projects fit right in. “Yarnigami creates little serendipities around [Kent].” The group was founded three years ago, with a noble purpose: to knit and crochet blankets, hats, socks and mittens for homeless or hospitalized individuals. At the time, Baldridge began reading about programs that were created in World War I and World War II to recruit women and children to take up knitting so as to provide socks and clothing for American soldiers abroad. Propaganda posters had slogans like “Our boys need sox! Knit Your Bit!,” and the programs were affiliated with the American Red Cross. Baldridge’s research inspired her to check out books on how to knit and crochet. Inspired, she approached the local branch of the American Red Cross to re-establish Knit Your Bit groups, doing projects relevant for the 21st century such as helping out the homeless and hospitalized. Later, the group broke off from the Red Cross and ended up finding a home on Kent’s campus. “This is the third yarn group I’ve ever joined, and this one really feels like home,” Yarnigami says. Her next big yarn bombing project will be in tandem with the rest of the group—a sneak attack on the popular, artsy coffee shop, Scribbles. Yarnigami’s career as a street artist has gone well, with only one project causing a bit of backlash. “Somebody complained in Sound Off, [a complaints section in The Record Courier], about the park bench,” Yarnigami says. The downtown park bench had been completely blanketed in shades of blue. Unfortunately, it had rained that week, and the yarn was soggy. “That same day I took it down,” Yarnigami says. “I still thought it was a lot of fun, but I don’t want to annoy people. My intention is not to be in the way.” Yarnigami is determined to decorate the streets of downtown Kent as a selfless act purely for others’ enjoyment. “I’m a little compulsive,” Yarnigami says. “You have to have a bit of determination, basically, to take the time to make the art. You have to want the end result.”

❝

YARN BOMBING, IS DESCRIBED AS GRAFFITI WITH YARN. IT’S STEALTHY, IT’S NOT ASKING PERMISSION.”

Yarnigami

THE DEVOTED LISTENER Beverly Warren enters the Alumni Suite on the third floor of the student center wearing a white textured blazer, black dress, tights and pumps that place her at 5 foot 3 inches. She shakes each person’s hand before sitting in her designated seat under hot lights and the scrutiny of cameras. Three news media outlets are each offered only 15 minutes of her time, but if it were up to Warren, she’d stay to chat all night. At 65 years old, Warren isn’t planning her retirement. Instead, she’s taking on the most demanding job of her educational career. After months of a confidential search, the Board of Trustees announced Warren as the university’s 12th president elect on January 8. Warren wasn’t seeking a presidency, as she’s been Virginia Commonwealth University’s provost and vice president since 2010. However, the search committee asked her to apply and decided there was no better fit for Kent State. Warren will move her belongings into the university-owned president’s home before her term begins on July 1. “All that big house just for me,” she says. Warren won’t be bringing any family with her, but she isn’t scared to start over in a new city with no personal relations. “It’s actually exciting,” Warren says. “I’m looking forward to being able to invest a lot of my time and energy into this university and into what can make it better.” It’s hard to tell the source of what seems to be her neverending stream of energy. The best explanation: her physical activity. Warren received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in health and physical education and coached basketball and volleyball at the college level for 15 years. She’s also finished two Boston Marathons and says Kent students “might see me with a helmet on, riding a bike,” if they wake up in time, as she also admits to being an early riser. Warren believes, aside from the reading she’s done about being a leader (she’s currently reading “Focus” by Daniel Goleman), involvement in sports for most of her life has prepared her for the presidency role. “I was very engaged in sports as a young person,” Warren says. “I was a participant predominantly on team sports; basketball, volleyball, softball—you name it. What I learned in those experiences is how everyone contributes to a team, and everyone has a role to play, and perhaps the greatest treat of a leader is to bring out the best in her teammates, and so that’s sort of something that’s been a thread through my career is that I’ve been blessed with opportunities to be a leader, a facilitator of what I call a team approach to leadership.” Warren believes it’s too early to say what she hopes to accomplish at Kent State, but during her few visits to campus since her announced presidency, her biggest commitment has been listening to students. “I’m interested in learning about people. I’m interested in learning about you,” Warren says.

THE BURR // APRIL 2014

PHOTOS BY ANDRE FORREST (BEVERLY WARREN); KRISTI GARABRANDT (GENE SHELTON)

THE MOTOWN MAN Gene Shelton’s office at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication is not what a person would expect. The walls are plain and adorned with photographs and memorabilia of his family. There are a few posters of musicians and a modest bookshelf. There is only one small shelf dedicated to what Gene Shelton is known for, and the artifacts are tucked away, invisible to the eye. Shelton is known among students for working in the music business as a publicist for some of the biggest names in R&B, soul and pop music, such as Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie and Curtis Mayfield. He started his career in the music industry in 1975 after he was given an assignment to interview R&B singer Roberta Flack for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “The interview [with Roberta Flack] made me rethink what I was doing,” Shelton says. “I could utilize my skills as a writer and reporter but apply them to entertainment instead of crime and politics.” Shelton started the job that launched his legendary career at Motown Records in 1978, after a magazine publisher recommended him. His first job was working under the director of publicity for Motown Records, Bob Jones, and his first client was funk musician Rick James. “The big names at Motown, like the Supremes, were really not making hits anymore. It was the new acts, and among those new acts was Rick James,” Shelton says. “He became my first client [because] I had to write his biography. He turned down every biography except mine. He said, ‘Finally somebody got me right,’ and that established my credibility with Bob Jones.” Shelton left Motown Records after the company had to lay off employees but was recommended to the black music division of CBS Records by Jones. “He said, ‘I have this guy, I had to let him go, but if you have an opportunity to hire him, then hire him.’ That’s what led from me going from Motown to CBS,” Shelton says. “CBS Records was huge, so I felt like I arrived.”

Shelton went back to Motown Records after numerous offers from the company to work with singer Lionel Richie, and joined Richie on his first U.S. promotional tour. “I grew up with a very strong connection to Motown, and they were asking me to come back and work specifically with Lionel Richie because he was going to be their next big artist,” Shelton says. “But, I did not enjoy working at Motown as much as I enjoyed working at CBS. [Working at CBS] elevated me beyond… because I wanted to represent Randy Meisner of the Eagles and Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys, it didn’t matter what color my skin was. I was a publicist, so that opened the doors for me to work a lot of various artists.” Shelton established personal connections with the musicians, and he has fond memories of his previous clients. “The very first time I met Stevie Wonder, he shook my hand and said, ‘Gene, you’re a Libra.’ I never told him that! He said that he could just tell by my words and handshake,” Shelton says. Shelton’s career switched from working closely with world-famous musicians to teaching at Kent State after he agreed to guest lecture in a course taught by former director Jeff Fruit. “I spent the entire weekend preparing a lecture, and when I opened up the folder, there were notes from previous meetings. I thought that was a disaster, but after, he asked me if I would teach Media, Power and Culture in the spring,” Shelton says. “And I said, ‘Sure!’ and I started teaching here as a grad student…it was because of the trust that Jeff Fruit had in me.” Shelton entered the music business because of his love of music, and he continues to press the importance of music to his students who aspire to work in the industry. “Listen to music, read “Billboard,” read the biographies and autobiographies of great musicians. That’s what I do and what I continue to do,” Shelton says. “If you want to work in the record business, adapt. Be as knowledgeable as you can about it.”

THE MODERN

MOVER

Kent State’s associate professor of dance, Barbara Verlezza, has worked with some of the greats, including May O’Donnell—one of modern dance’s most influential figures. However, after performing as a soloist in New York City for 15 years, Verlezza has found more joy performing with nontraditional dancers, including those with mental and physical handicaps. Verlezza Dance, the Verlezza family dance studio established in 2003, has directed groups of adults with disabilities for more than a decade. It has been an ongoing program partnered with the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities and the HELP Foundation. Verlezza first realized the possibility of working with dancers with disabilities after watching a standing man and a woman in a wheelchair perform at the Cleveland Ballet Dancing Wheels in Ohio. “The lights went down, and they started dancing and we were blown away,” she says. “We were absolutely blown away. We had never seen anything like it.”

She officially began working with dancers with disabilities in 1994 when she and her family moved to Cleveland to work with Dancing Wheels Company & School, a professional dance company in Cleveland that unites dancers with and without disabilities. Verlezza and her husband were with Dancing Wheels for nine years. “It changed our lives,” Verlezza says. “It changed my perspective on my art form. My art form all of a sudden had so many more possibilities.” Although Verlezza ultimately left Dancing Wheels in 2003, she and her husband went on to create a summer program in New York City at the Steffi Nossen School of Dance called Moving Wheels and Heels, a one-week dance intensive for students with and without disabilities. As for her troupe here in Ohio, Verlezza meets with them every Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. year round in Shaker Heights. Verlezza says working with dancers with disabilities has affected who she is as a mother, daughter and teacher. She says it’s the giveand-take aspect of the relationship she has with the dancers that makes teaching and working with them so rewarding and worthwhile. “A lot of people will say this to me, and I think they mean it in a good way, or they say it to my husband and to me, ‘It’s so wonderful what you do for those people,’ ” Verlezza says. “We say ‘No, it’s so wonderful what they do for us.’ ”

LA TEATRALE INSEGNANTE Kristin Stasiowski is theatrical. She’s loud and bright, in personality and appearance. She waltzes into rooms with a toothy, lipstick-coated smile, greeting students with an enthusiastic “Ciao, bella,” and an embrace. As a part-time professor of Italian studies and the director of International Programs and Education Abroad, Stasiowski believes in two things: travel and imagination. She gained both of these things by doing the opposite of what she originally planned for her life. Stasiowski traded in film school and her dreams of going to Hollywood for a liberal arts education at Georgetown University, a study abroad experience in a villa near Florence, Italy, and then a doctoral program at Yale for Italian art and literature. “I had really wanted to go make movies, despite the fact that I left film school,” Stasiowski says. She says she “was urged to do so by people in the film industry.” “They said I wouldn’t get what I would need, which was an imagination that could last the test of time,” Stasiowski says. After multiple stints in Italy (living there, working there, marrying an Italian man and visiting 25 other countries), Stasiowski gained enough life experience and imagination to make classes like “Dante in Translation” and “The Modern Italian Novel” entertaining for students. She still draws on her initial film ambitions to guide her lessons. “I try to keep things new and interesting because I don’t want to bore the students, or myself for that matter,” Stasiowski says. “If you don’t have an imagination about things, you can’t expect

THE BURR // APRIL 2014

your students to be able to understand what it is you’re trying to connect dots for in a course about anything. It helps to be creative in that way, like a screenwriter would to communicate a story, and that’s all I do really is communicate stories, from one side of the aisle to the other.” This means a day in one of her classes is never boring, whether you’re looking at memes that read, “You know who else put his friends in circles? Dante,” or relating the Italian writer to the characters on “The Simpsons.”

PHOTOS BY EMILY KAELIN (BARBARA VERLEZZA); CHELSAE KETCHUM (KRISTIN STASIOWSKI); SAMANTHA PLACE (EVAN BAILEY)

THE REMIXED PROFESSOR While students know Evan Bailey as their public relations professor at Kent State, some have no idea that on any given Thursday night you can find him at 157 Lounge as the DJ, Evan Evolution, starting at 11 p.m. “For as long as I can remember I’ve loved music,” Bailey says. “We had a lot of vinyl in the house, a lot of Beatles, Bob Marley, Talking Heads and Traffic. It had a big affect on me; I remember looking at the turntables and the receiver.” He started his music career playing the double bass in his elementary school’s orchestra. He stayed immersed in music as he continued growing up and was in a few bands during high school. “Instantly, I was hooked,” Bailey says. During his senior year of high school in 1998, he and his friends attended multiple raves and eventually saved enough money to have their own. “There was just something underground about that scene, and for the first time I felt that this music really mattered,” Bailey says. “It wasn’t imitation; it was innovation. ” With money originally saved for a Paul Reed Smith guitar, Bailey, on impulse, bought turntables, which started his career as a DJ. He played at Avenue in 1999, later known as Club Khameleon, formerly located on Water Street. From there, Bailey’s career grew. Now he has played everywhere from the Ultra Music Festival in Miami and the Playboy Club Tour. One of his most recent gigs was opening for Krewella, an electronic dance music trio formed in 2007 in Chicago, at the 2014 New Year’s Eve show in downtown Cleveland, which had approximately 15,000 attendees. He is also the communications director for Disco Donnie Presents, the largest and longest-standing electronic dance music promoter in North America. Although teachers seeing students outside of class is like mixing oil and water, Bailey says seeing them at 157 Lounge isn’t a big deal.

“I’m still the same person,” he says. “There isn’t a way to put away a side of myself.” When he sees his students, he says he just gives a nod or a wave in acknowledgement and goes on DJing. “There’s something about looking out at a crowd and realizing that it’s all one,” Bailey says. “It’s not about you, either; that’s one thing I like about DJing. Everyone is connected because of the music; it’s how the crowd feels alive and like an organism.”

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THERE WAS JUST SOMETHING UNDERGROUND ABOUT THAT SCENE, AND FOR THE FIRST TIME I FELT THAT THIS MUSIC REALLY MATTERED. IT WASN’T IMITATION; IT WAS INNOVATION. ” Evan Bailey

THE GO-2-GUY

Innovator. Marketeer. Humanist. Go2Go Taxi owner Doron Kutash is all of this and more. In 2007, Doron Kutash put his car, computer, money from stocks and everything else he owned—a total of about $15,000—in collateral for a loan. With it, he bought a 12-passenger van on Aug. 8 with a goal to create a taxi service Kent residents now know as Go2Go Taxi. Kutash, who is a Kent grad, saw an advertisement concerning a meeting open to the public earlier that year printed by Main Street Kent, a nonprofit focused on improving the downtown area. “[The] concept was a meeting, brainstorm, to create the perfect Kent you can imagine,” he says. Kutash had a similar vision, and he brought friends to the meeting who did as well. The 15 to 20 community members there brainstormed ideas that would revolutionize Kent. The idea of “how to get people downtown” kept coming up, and Kutash took the initiative.

Kutash made business plans from January to August in 2007. He bought the van and launched Go2Go Taxi on Aug. 20. For a year, he manned the business by himself, working 24 hours a day the first week. “It was not selfish. It was for the greater good,” he says of his reason for starting the business. A lot of customers came out at night, so Kutash hired more employees and bought more vans. To appeal to the college crowd, he set a flat rate of $3 a person on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. He also expanded the business to run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Now Go2Go Taxi has five cabs—a 15-, seven- and five-seater and two 12-seater vans. Kutash has a co-owner, Greg Schwartz, and about a dozen employees. Go2Go Taxi provides service in Kent, Akron and the surrounding areas of both cities. Service is in high demand, and the business continues to grow.

With his namesake dreadlocked hair and bandana, Dean “The Dreaded Dean” Holland is a recognizable figure in Kent who has hosted karaoke nights at the Zephyr Pub downtown for about four years. “I had a friend down in Athens, Ohio, who sort of took me under his wing and got me started,” Holland says. After receiving equipment and helpful tips from that friend, Holland began what’s become a great feature to the nightlife of Kent. From behind a monitor at the front of the Kent bar, with a microphone and a charismatic DJ/host personality, Holland is in his element. He channels the energy of the bar and gets everyone singing and having a good time. If there’s a gap between performers, he takes the stage himself to perform, belting it out with his own picks from an impressively diverse repertoire of songs. He’s able to narrow his favorites down to a top three: “Ziggy Stardust,” by David Bowie, “Tribute” by Tenacious D and “Comfortably Numb” by Pink Floyd. You can enjoy the fun, and sing a few tunes yourself. Dean is at the Zephyr Pub in downtown Kent every other Monday night, from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. He is also at The Hive Lounge every Friday from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. The Dreaded Dean also does stand-up comedy at the Brewhouse on Wednesday nights where he sometimes wears a Viking costume for a character in his routine.

THE DREADED DEAN 50

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PHOTOS BY ANDRE FORREST (DORON KUTASH); SAMANTHA PLACE (DEAN HOLLAND); ANDRE NOALL (JOSIE GILLILAND); LEAH KLAFCZYNSKI (PARKER ANDERSON)

THE STAND-OUT KID

Josie Gilliland had to do something to stand out from her seven siblings. To meet her is to know she most likely had no trouble accomplishing that. Josie is the type of person who you want in your project group. She has many ideas and the determination to see them through. She could build an empire, and that’s exactly what she plans to do. Gilliland started at Kent State as a fashion design major but switched to entrepreneurship during her sophomore year. “I was sitting in a drawing class, and it just didn’t feel right,” Gilliland says. “I was taking Introduction to Entrepreneurship, and when I found out that could be my major, I went to the office and switched on the spot.” Even after scoring an internship with Kleinfeld’s, the bridal store home to TLC’s “Say Yes to the Dress,” and receiving a subsequent full-time job offer, Gilliland knew she wanted to be her own boss. Taking inspiration from the budget-unconscious brides of New York City, Gilliland turned this idea around to create Bride on a Dime, a wedding planning service for brides on a budget. Her idea took off, and she developed an extensive client list, and while she still continues to plan weddings, she is cutting back to focus on her newest project, AvaKare. Gilliland attended Entrepreneurship Immersion Week at Hiram College in summer 2013 where she won second place for AvaKare, a line of alternative hospital wear for children. The line is inspired by Ava, a leukemia patient at Akron Children’s Hospital who attended Kent State’s Flash-A-Thon. There, she told Gilliland the one thing she doesn’t like about being sick is wearing a hospital gown, so Gilliland combined her fashion design skills with her entrepreneurial mind to fabricate a prototype that wowed the judges. Instead of hospital gowns, AvaKare provides colorful pants and tops with Velcro edges that still allow access for nurses and doctors. Now, Gilliland is in talks with Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital, Akron Children’s Hospital, the Cleveland Clinic children’s unit and Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA to buy her line of clothes for their patients. If Gilliland could do one thing for the rest of her life, she says building AvaKare would be it because it fits the reason she went into entrepreneurship in the first place. “I think entrepreneurship is my way of taking control of my own mission,” Gilliland says. “I want to make a difference by helping people, so I need to be my own boss to set my own standards of how I am going to do that.”

THE QUEEN

OF DRAG

NYX foundation, concealer, blush, eyeliner, an eyelash curler and nail polish litter 19-year-old Parker Anderson’s desk. Already decked out in a black dress, leather jacket and fishnets, he puts on a fire-red wig and 8-inch heeled boots and transforms into Annie Christ. He becomes she; Parker is the blank canvas and Annie is the masterpiece. “I love this,” he says. “I feel like I can be me.” Parker, a sophomore anthropology major who came out in eighth grade, started doing drag near the end of his senior year of high school. He started small, dressing up as Lady Gaga for Halloween. His mom helped him with makeup and gave tips. “Pantyhose. I wear two pairs of pantyhose, and then fishnets, and it keeps everything in place,” he says. “My mom used to be a dancer and she used to be in theater and she was like, ‘Honey, use those because it holds everything in.’ ” Since then, Annie has added black pointed nails, stylized, contoured makeup and bangs reminiscent of Bettie Page. She’s come into her own as a character. “I’m doing this to make myself happy,” Annie says looking at herself in the mirror. “Because doing this right now—I feel like a goddess. I don’t know how to say it, it just happens.” For Parker, Annie provides an outlet of expression and comfort. “I’ve always been fascinated with strong women in my life. My mom is strong, my grandma is a strong woman, strong women in history. I love women. That sounds funny because I’m gay, but I do,” he says. “Women are beautiful to me. I’ve always wanted to be a woman at some times. When I first actually came out I thought that’s what it was. I thought, ‘Oh, I’m doing this—I don’t want to be gay, I want to be a woman. Because it’s easier.’ ” Annie can be spotted around town at dinner or parties in her full outfits. Although she hasn’t done any drag shows yet, Annie has ideas bouncing around under her wig. She wants to put on shows that mean something, and show society its faults. She wants to make a difference and be a role model for people who understand her and what she’s doing.

THE TALLEST MAN IN KENT

If Google’s autocomplete search bar could tell a story in four words or less, it would do a decent job illustrating Blake Vedder. Type his name into Google; the first three following suggestions are “transfer,” “IUP” and “height.” In Kent State’s men’s basketball team picture, Vedder stands nearly a whole head taller than his teammate who’s closest in height, 6-foot-9 Khaliq Spicer. A new arrival by way of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Vedder is listed at 7-foot-4 on the team’s roster. What Google’s search can’t contribute as suggestions are “Blake Vedder shy,” “Blake Vedder soccer” or even “Blake Vedder Smart Car.” Yes, the tallest man on Kent State’s campus actually does fit comfortably into the smallest car on the automotive market. Yes, he played midfielder in soccer throughout his youth, but his drastic increase in height deterred him from continuing the sport. And, yes, despite the incessant questioning of awestruck strangers about his height, Vedder actually considers himself to be shy. “I think basketball is a great way for me to get out my shyness because everybody on the court is doing the same thing as me,” Vedder says. “I’m not the ‘individual.’ I’m not taller than everybody else on the court.” Some perspective: Only 5 percent of adult American men are taller than 6-foot 3-inches, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And, Sports Illustrated estimated from CDC data that only 70 males in the United States between the ages 20 and 40 are 7 feet or taller. Vedder, 22, is a native of Chesterland, Ohio, and a graduate of West Geauga High School, studies applied communications and ducks under nearly every doorway through which he passes. He’s a new arrival to Kent State, transferring after a season at IUP and before that, two seasons at University of Rhode Island. He is spending the 2013-14 season dressed in his team warmup suit, forced to sit out the season due to NCAA transfer rules. He has one season left of eligibility, which he will spend at Kent State. He considers himself to be an isolated type of person, spending much of his time in his basement bedroom in a house he shares with teammates Darren Goodson and Derek Jackson. Imagining the tallest man on Kent State’s campus spending his free time in a basement is humorous. Physically, he resembles NBA star forward Dirk Nowitzki, sharing a lanky frame and shaggy blond hair. His mussed mop also lends familiarity to cartoon character Shaggy Rogers, the human companion to ghost-hunting Great Dane Scooby-Doo and a character Vedder considered emulating for Halloween. Vedder’s father is 6-foot-3 and his mother is 5-foot-9, two heights that don’t exactly guarantee a child who exceeds seven feet in stature. His parents had him tested when he was younger for Marfan Syndrome—a genetic disorder which causes extreme growth. While the tests were negative, a deeper search into his family’s lineage revealed some explanation. “I went through gene therapy and all the way through my family tree, and they think it came from my great-great uncle who was 6-foot-8, so that’s where they think it came from,” Vedder says. Vedder hopes to excel next season when he is eligible to play.

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THE BURR // APRIL 2014

I THINK BASKETBALL IS A GREAT WAY FOR ME TO GET OUT MY SHYNESS BECAUSE EVERYBODY ON THE COURT IS DOING THE SAME THING AS ME. I’M NOT THE ‘INDIVIDUAL.’ I’M NOT TALLER THAN EVERYBODY ELSE ON THE COURT.” Blake Vedder

PHOTOS BY EMILY KAELIN (BLAKE VEDDER); NICOLE SAUTER (DEREK MEDURI); CHELSAE KETCHUM (SERENA TURNER)

THE TATTED TAILOR One simple thought, one stimulating image, one distinctive sound or even a unique word is all it takes to inspire an amazing idea. It was Kid Cudi’s song “Pursuit of Happiness,” featuring MGMT, that inspired junior fashion merchandising major Derek Meduri. Buried in the artist’s song was “zooted,” a word that struck Meduri as the inspiration he’d been looking for in order to create his line, Zooted Clothing. His urban, college apparel line includes tank tops, hoodies and T-shirts, with a twist. Most of the designs on the clothing incorporate marijuana leaves, something Meduri explains as “more for the stoner appeal.” Meduri says it started “as something for me to express what my friends and I were doing; we wanted our own clothes instead of wearing something else.” Once Zooted was ready to expand, Meduri received help from his roommate Dylan Palchesko along with friends Jake Black and Josh Turner, who have also assisted in coming up with designs. One of Meduri’s favorites is a white T-shirt with the word ‘Zooted’ on a light, pastel, floral background that’s also available printed on a hoodie. A few other unique designs include a pair of women’s boyshorts with red lips as the “Os” in Zooted, as well as a navy t-shirt with the Ohio flag on the back. “[My friends and I] wanted to touch more base with Ohio be-

THE FIRE TWIRLER

cause we’re pretty proud of where we come from,” Meduri says. Marijuana leaves add the “Zooted touch” as they replace the original stars on the flag. He says he and his friends use popular culture with cartoon-like designs to get the feel needed for the brand. The line also includes “Zooted University” hoodies and T-shirts, which have been a favorite for most who purchase. “Around winter break 2011 was when [the clothing line] had its biggest rush just because we did the “Zooted University” hoodies, which kind of looked like Kent’s hoodies,” Meduri says. “People would see them, and they would kind of do a double take and ask, ‘Hey, where’d you get that?’ ” Meduri’s line has made global sales through his website getztd. com. He hopes his line continues to reach a larger population that extends beyond Ohio and believes so strongly in the brand that he recently had “ZTD” tattooed on his chest. He hopes to open a store in the near future. “I’ve always wanted to do Acorn Alley,” Meduri says with a smile. “In the next five-year plan, [having my own store would] definitely be the No. 1 priority.”

Some people dance. Some people dance with fire. Artistic fight scenes, a blazing Samoan fire knife, jumping and swinging flaming weapons around their heads and feet. Serena Turner, a freshman psychology major, is a Samoan fire knife dancer. Her dancing began one day after her hula Tahitian motherdaughter dance class. Turner saw a poster in the dance studio advertising Samoan fire knife dancing and thought, “Why not?” Turner decided to try it, intending for the hobby to become “something cool to do at luaus.” It took a year for Turner to perfect her moves well enough to perform in front of an audience. She started out practicing with just knives in order to learn the moves, then she transitioned to knives customized for her, and finally she lit them on fire. Her first performance was nervewracking. “The very first move they had us choreograph was my partner taking the knife—it has a hook on the end,” Turner says. “He swung it around my head and under my feet, so I had to jump and dodge all while the knife was on fire.” Turner says the flames’ proximity to her face was scary at first, but she continues performing for “the thrill of it—when you spin the fire, you have to keep going so you don’t get burned.” Turner says she likes fire dancing because it is an uncommon sport for women, and it empowers her. “It takes a long time to get it down, so to be able to do that makes me feel strong—like all my hard work has paid off,” Turner says.

THE HELIUM

ARTIST

Mot Buchanan has been twisting balloons for 20 years. “I first started when I was 9 years old,” Buchanan says. “This one summer, I got it into my head that I wanted to learn how to make balloons.” He taught himself the art from a library book. “I didn’t check the cover of the book. I got volume four. So the first balloon I ever learned was a parrot on a swing. The second one was a monkey climbing a tree. I didn’t learn how to do a wiener dog or poodle...I learned wrong,” Buchanan explains. He later turned the hobby into a business called Entertainment with a Twist. It is the only job he’s had for the last 15 years. “Most of my work is private events,” Buchanan says. “I do a lot of corporate work, trade shows and things like that.” The most difficult object Buchanan has created with balloons is a 40 by 60 foot, full-scale farm he worked on with a team of balloon artists. The balloon farm required more than 30,000 balloons and 450 hours to complete. He’s also involved in multiple charities including Child’s Play, which distributes books and games to children facing long term hospital stays.

THE UNIVERSITY SECRET For three years, one woman has dedicated hours to breathing in the musty smells inside the university mascot costume. She’s at every university sporting or marketing event, but most don’t realize that the person behind the beak is one of the university’s biggest secrets. To become Flash, students go through a tryout process that consists of an interview and skit performance. Once selected, the person who straps on the yellow talons is to remain under wraps, which is what Kent’s current mascot has done for three years. “I saw something for mascot tryouts on Kent’s website. I was like, I could do that. I took my nap and thought, ‘Do I want to?’ and I decided that I did because I don’t play sports in college so it’s the closest thing,” Flash says. Flash had planned on joining the army, but has since reconstructed her life plan to include professional mascoting, as she hopes to one day put on the Brown’s Chomp costume. She’s well on her way, having attended The Universal Cheerleaders Association’s mascot camp this summer in order to learn mascot skills, like building props, creating skits and over exaggerating body language. Last year, she joined the cheer squad on stage as they competed and won fifth place in the National Cheerleaders Association’s Collegiate Cheer Championship at Daytona Beach, Fla., allowing the team to receive points for mascot presence. Although the job has opened up travel opportunities, Flash’s favorite part about being a mascot is interacting with kids. “I enjoy walking around campus in costume,” Flash says. “But then again, I also like the little nuggets. Yeah, the kids. That’s probably my favorite thing as Flash.” It wasn’t until Flash attended an event at Akron Children’s Hospital that she discovered making kids happy was what she enjoyed most. “Flash would be the best bird dad in the entire world,” Flash says. “He is everyone’s best friend, and he just loves life. He is always happy.”

THE BURR // APRIL 2014

THE FEATURES

THE SERIAL

PHOTOS BY LEAH KLAFCZYNSKI (FLASH); ANDREA NOALL (MOT BUCHANAN); KRISTIN GARABRANDT (NANCY WILSON); ANDRE FORREST (PARTNERS IN IRONY

AUDITIONEE “I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Nancy Wilson said to her friend on the phone on a bus ride to the airport after being sent home from round one of Hollywood week during season 13 of “American Idol.” Wilson overheard the camera crew mention to get footage of her conversation. “They thought I was upset about being sent home, but, really, I was just talking to my friend about next semester at school,” Wilson says with a laugh. Wilson wasn’t phased by being sent home. After all, she’s a veteran competition performer who knows a thing or two about how TV shows work. Wilson’s invitation to Hollywood was the furthest she had gone on any show so far. She has auditioned for “American Idol” once before as well as Fox’s “The X Factor” and NBC’s “The Voice.” Wilson first thought about a career in music after performing in her sixth grade talent show. Although she had paralyzing stage fright at first, Wilson says she quickly realized she had a knack for performing, and she has been training and competing ever since. Wilson came in fourth place at the Ohio Idol competition in 2011, a state-wide singing competition that allowed Wilson to tour the state with the top 10 contestants.

At Mike’s Place, junior English and philosophy double major Zach Nickels raps Fat Al’s “I Done Came Down” and pounds his fist on the table. The woman in the booth behind him turns around and gives him a dirty look. “It’s like a really nice southern banger,” says Justin Martin, a junior political science major who, with Nickels, makes up campus rap duo Partners in Irony. Although they are juniors in class rank, the two honors students are in their fourth semester at Kent State. Nickels is co-editor of the Honors College’s magazine, Brainchild, and is writing a book about how the creation of art is a reflection of the loneliness of the artist. Martin had a 4.0 last semester and is teaching himself to play the piano. With influences that range from Toro y Moi to Creedence Clearwater Revival to Regina Spektor to Kanye West, the rappers are focused on lyrics that Nickels says “you can feel in your nerve endings.” Martin raps in the tentatively-titled “Body, Mind and Soul:” “So every day I / Stare at my closet / You switch persona / I’m donning to cover / All of my problems and darkened thoughts that I harbor / It’s harder / Because I ponder on every move that I start on / So it must be the wrong one.” Nickels says hip-hop should be more widely considered as not just entertainment, but art. Most people wouldn’t claim to be able to sing or play guitar, but many would claim to be able to rap. Martin says Partners in Irony wants to lyrically explain thoughts and feelings to the audience. They draw from experiences that many people have, and they relay those emotions back to the audience.

With the taste of the touring life fresh in her mind, Wilson was hooked. After watching the first season of “American Idol” in 2002, Wilson knew she would audition when she met the age requirement. At 16, Wilson made her first attempt at “American Idol” stardom but was cut before she even got to see the celebrity judges during the four preliminary judging rounds with producers of the show. This season, Wilson made it to the celebrity judge round, and when judge Jennifer Lopez held up her golden ticket to Hollywood, Wilson cried happy tears. “Only 212 people in the entire country went to Hollywood this year,” Wilson says, “I was just in awe of being a part of that.” While Wilson continues to audition—she just returned from an audition for The Voice in Nashville in February—she is focused on finishing her degree and using social networks to further her career by posting videos on Vine and YouTube. Whatever it takes, Wilson wants to be a part of that world. “It’s kind of addictive,” Wilson says. “Once you go to an audition like that, it’s kind of hard to not want to be in that atmosphere. Even if you get cut, you’re surrounded by people who love the same thing you do.”

THE RAP DUO

“I was in here accidentally one night...and I overheard the owners say they wanted to get out of the business. I said ‘Are you serious?’ ” says Charlie Thomas, owner of Ray’s Place in downtown Kent. “I met him on a Saturday morning, and the rest is history.” Thomas has been the owner of Ray’s Place for 36 of the bar’s 77 years, the longest tenure of any of the location’s owners. In that time, he’s hit milestones, made memories and lived history. Downtown Kent has changed a lot in the past four decades, both socially and in terms of the landscape, and Charlie Thomas has been there through it all. The bar scene was a lot different when Thomas first became owner. Ray’s Place in particular, known for having both upstairs and downstairs bars, once had a band bar upstairs called Mother’s Junction. Thomas says that on a Wednesday night, the upstairs would see as many as 500 people, while the downstairs would be as packed as usual. “That’s the way it was back then. That was Kent. People came from everywhere to come to Kent to party. Good, bad or indifferent, but that’s the fact,” Thomas says. Changes in drinking age and DUI laws have altered the makeup of the downtown bar scene, but Ray’s Place has managed to adapt. Back in those days, it wasn’t uncommon for Thomas to have to break up fights between bar patrons, sometimes half a dozen times in a single night. “Certainly during the first week or two of school...guys like to establish their turf. Maybe the wrong guy came around that turf, and it didn’t go over well,” Thomas explains. Bars were different back then, with tougher crowds. Thomas did what he could to change that image. Even something as simple as opening up the front of the bar with large windows so that people could see in from the street made a huge difference. “It wasn’t intimidating anymore,” Thomas says. “They could see windows and see in. Now, if you notice, everybody in town’s doing windows.” Thomas has also witnessed his fair share of historical events while at Ray’s Place. “I certainly remember when John Lennon was killed. I don’t

THE BURR // APRIL 2014

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BACK IN THOSE DAYS...I WAS A BAR OWNER. NOW I’M A BUSINESSMAN.”

Charlie Thomas

know why, but I remember that I was working that night. That was one of those things when I was working, that just kind of got me,” Thomas recounts. However, history and famous figures don’t always have to be witnessed from afar. Thomas remembers when Jimmy Carter’s Chief of Staff, Hamilton Jordan, came into Ray’s Place one night in the early 1980s. “[We had] the worst restrooms in the world...and I’m thinking... Hamilton Jordan...is back in our restrooms,” Thomas says. Professional athletes, like members of the Cleveland Browns, as well as celebrities like Joe Walsh, Oliver Stone, Michael Symon and Drew Carey have tipped a glass at Ray’s Place. Bars like Ray’s Place serve as anchors in towns like Kent. Though the bar scene has changed, so too has how the bar business is viewed. “Back in those days...people never referred to somebody like me as a businessman or a restaurant owner...I was a bar owner. Now I’m a businessman,” Thomas says. After nearly four decades of owning Ray’s Place, Thomas can safely say he has no regrets, but he certainly has plenty of memories. He remembered his first night on shift, in particular. “It’s my first night working, and I remember the commodes upstairs went over and started flooding and going into the kitchen, and I thought ‘Welcome to Ray’s,’ ” Thomas says.

PHOTOS BY MELANIE NESTRUK (CHARLIE THOMAS); ANDREA NOALL (GWEN ROSENBERG); KRSTI GARABRANDT (LOBSTER MAC & CHEESE)

THE TAVERN HISTORIAN

THE FEATURES

THE CONFECTIONERY CURATOR Downtown Kent didn’t revitalize itself. The bustle and the businesses didn’t happen overnight. It took cooperation and faith. People took risks. Gwen Rosenberg, owner of Popped! was one of those people. If the name isn’t enough of a clue, Rosenberg owns a popcorn shop in Acorn Alley in downtown Kent. Popped! doesn’t offer the standard fare. There are flavors such as Firehouse Caramel, Cajun Kettlecorn and Baja Ohio, which contains chili powder and lime flavoring. Rosenberg’s business has character, and that’s no accident. Every quirk and bit of personality was inherited from Rosenberg herself. She will be the first to tell you how much she loves working and how eclectic her resume is. She’s a jack of all trades and a master of most. The following is a list of jobs that Rosenberg has had at one time or another, ranked in ascending order of novelty: Babysitting (which she doesn’t count as a job), waitressing at Chi Chi’s Mexican restaurant at the age of 15, third shift employee at a Denny’s, cake baker, bagel baker, volunteering (as a high schooler) on a violent crime task force to track gang trends and murder rates, used car saleswoman, marketing aviation and natural remedy software (separate programs), obedience trainer for dogs, drug counselor, federal probation officer, writer for Pigeon Racing Digest, secretary for the Medina County Beekeepers, writer for Bee Culture Magazine, beekeeper and, finally, owner and operator of a gourmet popcorn shop. Rosenberg’s infectious enthusiasm drives her business. She is the embodiment of the idea that you should do what makes you happy, or at least do something that you’re good at. Sometimes it takes a bit of trial and error, and you might be good at something you never saw yourself doing. The trial and error method carries over to her popcorn. Rosenberg seems willing to test any flavor idea. Once, she attempted to make the popcorn equivalent of a “breakfast stout beer.”

“I made it with beermaking malt and hops. What I made was the foulest, blackest, bitterest concoction of crunchiness, but you didn’t notice it at first.” Rosenberg says. “That was the worst popcorn I’ve ever made.” Gwen Rosenberg is the kind of entrepreneur who adds character to a city like Kent. Popped! recently celebrated its two-year anniversary, though Rosenberg doesn’t plan to rest on her laurels. She plans to open another specialty confectionery shop, something that she describes as an “exceptionally well curated collection of candy.” Whatever the future holds for Rosenberg and her business, don’t be surprised that if like her popcorn, there’s an unexpected kick.

KENT’S MOST INTERESTING FOODS BAR 145

RAYS PLACE

APPLE PIE BURGER: Spiced apples and cream cheese served on an open-faced buttered brioche. ($11)

PARMESAN CRUSTED CALAMARI: Calamari, hand-breaded, flash-fried and tossed with grated Parmesan cheese. Drizzled with wasabi aioli sauce. ($9.50)

LOBSTER MAC & CHEESE: Poached lobster, organic aged gouda, roasted tomatoes and asparagus tips topped with pomme frites. ($12)

ROASTED EGGPLANT DIP: Homemade dip with fresh roasted eggplant, onions, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and Asiago cheese. Served with grilled flatbread. ($6.50)

WILD PAPAYA THAI CUISINE SOM-TUM (PAPAYA SALAD): Chopped papaya and carrot salad with spicy sweet and sour dressing, seasoned with garlic and chili and topped with grilled chicken and roasted ground peanut. ($9.95)

TAMARIND DUCK: Crispy, half-boneless duck topped with special tamarind sauce with snow pea, baby corn, scallions and mushrooms. ($16.95)

WILD GOATS CAFÉ SOME’EN SOME’EN: Peanut butter, blueberries and house-made granola sandwiched between two pancakes and sprinkled with more blueberries, granola and powdered sugar. ($7.50) CHEESE CAKE FRENCH TOAST: Slices of homemade cheesecake lightly battered and griddled topped with your choice of blueberries, chocolate or caramel. ($8.50)

DROP BY DROP A 15,000-MILE JOURNEY FOR CLEAN DRINKING WATER INSPIRES KENT STATE SENIOR ALFREDO HILDEBRANDT TO GIVE BACK.

fter a week of sub-zero temperatures, cloudy skies and ice-covered sidewalks, Kent residents were weary. A lack of sunshine had depleted hope that spring would soon be on its way. In an effort to shake cabin fever and find a piping hot cup of coffee, locals donned layer after layer to make the trek to Tree City Coffee. Accepting the winter doldrums as they were, patrons were surprised as they saw a bit of blue making its way through downtown on Saturday, Feb. 8. Although it wasn’t a break in the clouds and clear blue

THE BURR // APRIL 2014

WORDS BY GRACE MURRAY PHOTOS BY NICOLE SAUTER

skies were still a distant dream, what they saw was a colossal ocean-blue van decorated with a map of the Americas. The van parked directly outside the coffee house, luring patrons into the cold Kent weather to take a closer look. Three men in their late 20s emerged from the van. The men, Paul Cebul, Dan Hildebrandt and Steffen Mueller, had landed at another leg on their 15,000-mile journey for clean drinking water as part of their Water for the Americas campaign. They left from Boston in late January and will travel for more than five months to make it to Rio, ending at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Along the way, they planned a stop in

15 countries, 70 cities and at 65 colleges. At each, they hope to inspire people to donate money for water projects and sign their van as a mobile petition for clean drinking water in the Americas—North America and South America—and through this, spread awareness globally. Each leg is photographed, tweeted, Facebooked and Four Squared to alert their followers of where they are and where they are headed—hoping to attract more “water stewards” with each stop. Kent’s leg was special for the Water for the Americas group: they had Kent State senior Alfredo Hildebrandt waiting for them.

THE FEATURES

TIES TO KENT After leaving the only home he ever knew, Alfredo traveled more than 3,500 miles from Lima, Peru to Fairlawn with his uncle’s blessing to obtain an American education. During his time in the States, Alfredo stayed with his uncle while he finished his high school career and applied to Kent State University. Six years later, Alfredo is preparing to graduate from the College of Education Health and Human Services with a bachelor’s in Hospitality Management. Instead of focusing on his own plans for the future, he has decided it is time to ensure others get the same opportunity—to live healthily and successfully. Alfredo has joined his cousin Dan and friends Cebul and Mueller in their effort to alleviate what they believe is the greatest challenge facing the world: the clean water crisis. “In Peru, you can drink the water if you want to, but it’s not recommended,” Alfredo says. “You can get viruses. There, people have to walk miles for clean water. They don’t have access to it like we do here in the U.S. In America, you can drink whatever water you want. It’s in the bathrooms. It’s everywhere.” The group is not simply focusing on Peru, they’re also looking at all of the Americas—North, Central, South and the Caribbean—because, as Cebul notes, more than 34 million people are without access to clean water. “This is a hard campaign,” Alfredo says. “The thing is, it’s not something that people get close to—especially not in America. They don’t feel it. To get close to something, like cancer, for example, or any other campaign, you have to experience it or know someone who’s gone through it. Americans don’t see the problem.” Cebul and Dan—along with Alfredo, Mueller and their sponsors—have decided to do their part in making all Americans, no matter from which part, see the issue.

DIFFERENT LOCATIONS, SAME CAUSE Water for the Americas started as a joke between Cebul and Dan, who met in fourth grade at St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Catholic School in Wooster, Ohio. Avid soccer fans, the business partners were looking for an excuse to go to Rio for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. “We pitched that if things work out well for our business, Reach Trade, and we have a presence in the U.S. and Peru, maybe we

can have a good enough excuse to head down to Brazil for the Cup,” Cebul laughs. “It started as a joke, but it became reality with this ‘Let’s do it’ mentality. If we really want to make people aware of the water crisis, this is what we’ve got to do.” The pair’s business, Reach Trade, is a for-profit company that buys fair trade coffee beans from Peru and sells them in the United States. Dan says 5 percent of the company’s sales go directly to investments in clean water development. The young social entrepreneurs, as they like to call themselves, didn’t come up with the plan for Reach Trade in the fourth grade. They had some growth of their own to do first. Cebul started his dream business in India, sourcing tea and selling it in the markets. Like Reach Trade, his business in India gave 5 percent to water projects. When he moved back to the U.S., Cebul still had a passion for ending the water crisis. He reconnected with Dan who suggested expanding his business to include coffee from Peru. The 20-somethings agreed and are now working as co-owners for their Wayne County-based business. “We’re just getting our business off the ground,” Cebul says, sighing. “We started backwards. We didn’t have seed money. Everything came out of our own other entrepreneurial endeavors—our own money. We wanted to grow the business the old school way, you could say.” While Cebul is traveling from city to city with Mueller, Dan is in charge of the business back home. Though he says he will be making appearances along the way, especially in Latin America. “We’re a small business with a tight budget,” Cebul says. “It’s not the smart thing to do business-wise, but it’s the right thing to do. We will bear the weight on our shoulders until we believe people are going to hop on board with this because we’re mostly alone in this fight.” Gary White, co-founder and CEO of Water.org—a nonprofit aimed at providing safe drinking water and sanitation—agrees a group effort is the best means to make a difference, but says it all starts with education. “The first step in creating change is knowledge,” White wrote in an email. “Make others aware of the water crisis and why it matters.” White and actor Matt Damon started Water.org as a way to educate the public on the state of the water crisis as well as help communities in Central America, South Asia and Africa obtain clean drinking water. Alfredo noted that some of the funds raised during the Water for the Americas tour will go directly to Water.org to help the organization continue providing access to clean water.

IN PERU, YOU CAN DRINK THE WATER IF YOU WANT TO, BUT IT’S NOT RECOMMENDED. YOU CAN GET VIRUSES. THERE, PEOPLE HAVE TO WALK MILES FOR CLEAN WATER. THEY DON’T HAVE ACCESS TO IT LIKE WE DO HERE IN THE U.S. IN AMERICA, YOU CAN DRINK WHATEVER WATER YOU WANT.” Alfredo Hildebrandt

15,000 MILES, ONE VAN Cebul and Mueller left Boston on Jan. 24 with five and a half months of road ahead of them. Mueller, who recently graduated with his master’s from Madrid’s Institution de Empresa Business School, spent the summer in Peru as a volunteer for Action Against Hunger, which is where he heard of the Water for the Americas project. Upon his graduation in December, he packed up his things and headed to the States. “Steffen and I actually met in-person two or three days before launch,” Cebul says. “We’d talked before then, but the first actual conversation we had was on the way to Boston.” During each planned stop, Mueller and Cebul ask supporters to sign their van that’s serving as a mobile petition for clean drinking water. Mueller takes care of a lot of the pair’s logistics along the way—such as updating the website and building connections through social media so followers know where to expect them next. Cebul says the journey has had a lot of ups and downs so far, from almost getting stuck at a border crossing in Canada to meeting awe-inspiring people. “We’ve planned events where no one showed up,” Cebul says. “We’ve had events where more than we expected showed up. We’ve had events where we’ve had one per-

❝

WE’VE PLANNED EVENTS WHERE NO ONE SHOWED UP. WE’VE HAD EVENTS WHERE MORE THAN WE EXPECTED SHOWED UP. WE’VE HAD EVENTS WHERE WE’VE HAD ONE PERSON, BUT THAT ONE PERSON REALLY INSPIRED US TO CARRY ON. THE BEST PART OF IT ALL IS THAT WE HAVE PEOPLE WHO ARE SIGNING OUR VAN. WE’RE JUST HAVING A LOT OF FUN ALONG THE WAY, MEETING PEOPLE WHO ARE EXCITING US.”

Paul Cebul

son, but that one person really inspired us to carry on. The best part of it all is that we have people who are signing our van. We’re just having a lot of fun along the way, meeting people who are exciting us.” Mueller says for him, what’s been most exciting is introducing new technology, which he can’t wait to show off when they venture south. “We have this water filter in the back of our van that’s affordable,” Mueller says. “It’s technology that can maintain and secure the life of an entire village. Bringing this from the U.S. and Germany to Latin America just fits with the theme of connecting people that I’ve seen throughout this entire journey thus far.” Cebul says the filter relies on nano-fibers to rid water of 99.9 percent of pathogens that cause disease and can be used for a number of years – something that hasn’t been seen in the industry before now. The filters can be cleaned in “your bathtub,” Cebul says, and can be used time and time again.

LEANING ON HIS BROTHERS Dan, Cebul and Mueller made it clear that none of this journey would be possible

THE BURR // APRIL 2014

without their sponsors, which range from an inner city school in Detroit to a Mexican rock band. They also note one of the most exciting partnerships they’ve made along the way is with Sigma Phi Epsilon, thanks to Alfredo. Alfredo is a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon at Kent State. There, he’s been working with fraternity brothers to get a Water for the Americas organization started at the university. Additionally, Alfredo’s been making phone call after phone call to other chapters of the fraternity across the country to gain their support. Though Alfredo admits it’s been a bit of an overwhelming task, he is happy to be a part of an organization that can change and save so many lives, and the others involved with Water for the Americas appreciate his efforts. “Alfredo’s been great,” Cebul says with a smile. “He drove all the way to Boston for our launch. He’s got such a big heart; he’s going to inspire Sig Ep across the nation. I’m just so thankful for him. I keep telling him, ‘Like most things in life, you only have to get it right once. You just have to keep plugging away.’ ” And that’s what Alfredo plans to do. His goal is to raise at least $5,000 by the end of spring semester—enough to fund a water project in Peru.

Cebul says Water for the Americas and Reach Trade define a water project as “an initiative that aims to provide, sustain or improve ample supplies of safe water to a specific group.” Reach Peru—the business that started Reach Trade—generates money specifically for underdeveloped cities in Peru whereas Water for the Americas intends to raise money for all of the Americas as part of Reach Trade’s growing initiatives. So far, the business has donated enough funds to cover the cost of 20 household filters, two toilet facilities and two community filters in Peru as well as two more community filters in India.

DOWN THE ROAD Once the van parks in Rio, Dan and Cebul say they’re not quite sure what’s next for the movement. “The movement is evolving,” Cebul says. “We have an idea that we’re going to create a platform for people to share, but we don’t want to be so pigheaded that we know exactly where we want to take this. We want to wait until we sit down, like a roundtable discussion, with people who really care about the future of water.” Mueller says that’s the beauty of it all,

THE FEATURES

QUICK NUMBERS ON THE taking the time to let their campaign develop. They’re not trying to force people to care about the water crisis. “We just wanted to create a non-partisan campaign—a movement,” Cebul says. “It’s not a 501-CK; it’s not just my business doing this. We wanted to start with a blank van and get it filled up by people. We didn’t see anything like that really developing and we wanted to unite the representatives of society: citizens, the private sector, nonprofits and government institutions.” Cebul, Dan and the rest of the Water for the Americas community are hopeful they will be able to make the connections White is suggesting. Big or small, they say any glimmer of inspiration or action is a move in the right direction. “Whether we become a non-profit down the line, a business or simply a memorable story that we can all share, hopefully we can inspire millions,” Cebul says. “We have big dreams, but we are very humble about everything that’s involved and the evolution that has to happen.” B

GLOBAL WATER CRISIS

ALL STATISTICS WERE COMPILED BY WATER.ORG AND REFER TO INFORMATION COMPILED ON A GLOBAL SCALE. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THESE STATISTICS AND WHAT THE ORGANIZATION IS DOING TO IMPROVE THE CRISIS, VISIT THE NONPROFIT’S WEB PAGE. Nearly 1 billion people without water. 2.5 billion without adequate sanitation. 3.7 miles walked, on average, each day by women and children to find clean water. 4,100 children under the age of 5 die each day from preventable water-related illnesses.

While Steffen Mueller (right) and Dan Hildebrandt (center) traverse the continent, Alfredo Hildebrandt (left) spreads the word on campus. Paul Cebul remains behind to manage the business in Boston.

KEEPING TABS FOLLOW WATER FOR THE AMERICAS facebook.com/waterfortheamericasmovement @waterforamerica foursquare.com/waterforamericagetinvolved GET INVOLVED Pledge: Waterfortheamericas. com/?cat=15 Volunteer: Waterfortheamericas. com/?cat=18 Donate: Waterfortheamericas. com/?cat=11

THE EQUALIZER

AFTER THE POST: KENT STATE LEARNS THE PRICE OF 140 CHARACTERS

WORDS BY ALYSSA MORLACCI AND NICK SHOOK

ast time I saw Sam Wheeler, he was walking out of the Memorial Athletic Convocation Center, a ski mask resting below his eyes and a beanie covering everything above them. He’d intentionally assembled this look with more in mind than the cold air. He was in hiding. To me, his eyes and stature were still recognizable. I called his name, and he removed his disguise for a moment to talk about his suspension from the Kent State wrestling team, which happened a few days prior. He’d been the topic of conversation in classes, between friends and even on national news sites. Wheeler was removed indefinitely from the team for tweeting insensitively about NFL prospect Michael Sam’s announcement that he’s gay. Screenshots of his tweets were posted on national sites including the Huffington Post, where it raised nearly 1,500 comments in its first 5 hours of visibility. Like the one from “Mark C.,” which read: “This little bigot should be expelled not suspended...he can say what ever he wants but it doesn’t mean you get to say it with no consequences...goes for all the other bigots like him as well.” Or from ‘Michael J.’ stating: “Poor guy, the closet is a tough place, especially when your [sic] wearing a singlet!!!” Wheeler admitted to me during our two-minute-long conversation the negligent manner of his tweets because although he does have a right to free speech, he also has a responsibility to represent the athletic department. Hours after Wheeler gained national attention, director of athletics Joel Nielsen released this statement: “We are aware of the insensitive tweets by one of our student athletes. On behalf of Kent State University, we consider these comments to be ignorant and not indicative of the beliefs held by our university community as a whole. This is an educational opportunity for all of our student-athletes.” Wheeler’s wrestling coach Jim Andrassy followed with: “As an alum of Kent State University and as Sam’s head coach, I was surprised and offended by what I read on Twitter. I have spoken to Sam personally, and while he is remorseful, he will be suspended indefinitely while we determine the best course of action moving forward.” In the Student-Athlete handbook all Kent State University athletes are required to sign, only one page (p. 56) covers what the department calls “internet-based social networking communities,” requiring student-athletes to affirm that they “shall conduct themselves in a manner befitting highly visible members of the university, department and head coach.” The department also reserves the right “to take action against any currently enrolled student-athlete engaged in behavior that violates

THE BURR // APRIL 2014

University, Department, or team rules, including such behavior that is evidenced in postings on the Internet.” The page doesn’t list Twitter as one of the social media outlets the policy covers, but it is implied. Deputy athletic director Devin Crosby says the handbook is frequently rewritten, due to the everchanging nature of the Information Age. The department was prepared for a potential social media mistake—or, at least had covered its own backside legally in the case that an athlete would violate the policy. However, the department didn’t take action to educate its athletes. Two former Kent State athletes told The Burr their education on social media responsibility was sporadic at best. “I can’t remember who exactly talked to us, but they only did my freshman and sophomore year,” former volleyball player Kathy Krupa says. “They told us not to put pictures up with any alcohol or parties. That’s basically it.” “[The talks were about] common sense,” former women’s basketball player Tamzin Barroilhet says. “Mostly about not posting stupid photos of us partying, no photos with cups or bottles in our hands. And then it was not allowed to post any bad things about the university or athletic programs, no racial, sexist or religious comments.” As Crosby will admit, since the Wheeler situation went viral, the department has realized a streamlined educational program is necessary for all of its athletes. “With this in light, it shows the direct need to have an educational program that is consistent across all of our sports,” Crosby says. “We are in the process right now of selecting dates, figuring out the best times to bring in our student-athletes, segmented by gender, class…every single one of our studentathletes will go through this process.” Wheeler will see his suspension come to a resolution, either by way of reinstatement or permanent removal from the team. But that decision will occur after he completes an education program on the subjects of social media and likely, homosexuality, though Crosby was rather vague when describing his “education.” What all other student-athletes, at both Kent State and beyond, should take from this is simple, yet convoluted. Division I studentathletes, like it or not, are role models. They are also considered public figures,who are closely watched. Crosby says the issue is one the NCAA has had “the darnedest of time trying to put their hands around.” If Kent State introduces a unified approach to social media and public conduct, on which Crosby says they are working diligently, it may make the transition from embarrassed athletic department to national innovator.

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LAST SHOT

PHOTO & WORDS BY ANDREA NOALL

Every day on my way to school, I’d drive across a bridge above the Mogadore Reservoir. Every day, I’d slow down to watch the sun creep above the tallest trees. Sometimes the fog would create an eerie sensation over the water and cloud the glass-like surface. Every day, I’d promise myself to photograph the sunrise and shallow fog. Finally, one quiet morning, I packed my camera and tripod and headed to the bridge. With frozen hands, I waited for the light to hit the water in a spectacular way or for the fog to creep up around me. Nothing happened. Discouraged, I took a couple of pictures before completely losing all feeling in my fingers and toes. Then I heard the churning of a motor, and two figures in a boat slid into my view. Ecstatic, I watched as they braced themselves for a chilly morning fishing trip. The shutter on my camera clicked as I took picture after picture, no longer regretting waking up at 4:30 a.m. As the sun crested over the treetops, and the fog fell in-between the motorboat and myself, I realized how important it was to appreciate the little things in life—things like sunrises, cameras and even fish hooks.

THE BURR // APRIL 2014

NATIONAL AWARDS The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication

Second Place General Excellence Single Issue of an Ongoing Print Magazine Anthony Dominic (April 2013) Second Place First-Person Consumer Magazine Article Rachel Campbell, “Failure to Diagnose” (April 2013) Third Place Investigation and Analysis Consumer Magazine Article Mark Haymond, “The ‘G’ Word” (April 2013)

The Hearst Journalism Awards Program

Top 10 National Finalist Personality Profile Anthony Dominic, “Who is Lester Lefton?” (December 2012) Top 20 National Finalist Personality Profile Rebecca Reis, “Making Amends with My Invisible Half” (November 2012) Top 10 National Finalist Feature Writing Mark Haymond, “The ‘G’ Word” (April 2013) Associated College Press/College Media Association Fourth Place, Best of Show Best Feature Magazine Anthony Dominic, October 2013

REGIONAL AWARDS Society of Professional Journalists, Region 4

American Advertising Federation, Akron

First Place Non-Fiction Magazine Article Daniel Moore, “Climbing the Ladder” (Spring 2012, Issue 1) Second Place Non-Fiction Magazine Article Leighann McGivern, “Waiting for ‘I Do’” (Spring 2012, Issue 2) Third Place Non-Fiction Magazine Article Rebecca Reis, “Making Amends with My Invisible Half” (November 2012) Third Place Best Student Magazine Rabab Al-Sharif (Spring 2012, Issue 1)

Silver Award, Student ADDY Publication Design, Cover Thomas Song and Kelly Lipovich, “Putting the Pieces Back” (Spring 2012, Issue 1)