Valentine’s Day
Love: A reimagining
A special publication of The Murray State News
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The News
February 11, 2016
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The News
February 11, 2016
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Table of Contents
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Love of a daughter A very Murray Valentine’s Day
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Vocalist consumed by a love for singing
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Love-of-another “Galentine’s Day:” Cherishing the memories
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For the love of sports
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What is your one love?
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Unconditional love
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Sloan Lake
Cover photo by Kalli Bubb/The News
From the Editor When thinking about Feb. 14, I have usually considered Valentine’s Day to be a holiday of love b e t w een Bradley people. You have couples and parents and siblings and other family members to love – all that good, solid Hallmark jazz. It’s a common conception about Valentine’s Day that others have likely shared with me; hence the anti-Valentine’s Day
parties and the Galentine’s Day celebrations that move away from the idea of giving and receiving love from a significant other. I ask you not to hold fast to the idea that you’rr going to read a piece of bitter cynicism because I’m feeling good about the pages that lie ahead, which we planned with undeniable excitement. Picture our staff, sitting in 111 Wilson Hall (The Murray State News’ newsroom), attempting to come up with a list of Valentine’s Day stories and photos that branch beyond what we have done in the past. We wanted to create some-
thing that was all-inclusive to all types of love as best as we could. As I was bouncing around a few ideas with The News’ co-adviser, he mentioned The New York Times’ essay series called “Modern Love.” If you are unfamiliar, “Modern Love” is made up of reader-submitted stories about love. One that was published last Friday was about a daughter learning to cope with her mother’s death, which is perhaps not the first situation one might think about when defining love but a situation of love nonetheless. This is how we came up
with our “Love is …” edition. Love, as defined by you – our readers and our interviewees – began to take shape as an outline of its unlimited boundaries. It’s the love shared between a mother and her daughter. It’s the love of music that has inspired a career. It’s the love of another – whether it’s your partner for life or your child or your absolute best group of friends. It’s God. It’s sports. It’s writing. It’s anything and everything that has made each one of us the people we are today. Take a look at our front cover if you haven’t given
it a good look yet. We asked you to define love, and very few of those answers are the same. So, tell me, how do you define love? Have a happy Valentine’s Day,
Mary Bradley Editor-in-Chief
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February 11, 2016
Love of a daughter: an uphill battle against cancer Breanna Sill || Staff writer
bsill@murraystate.edu
Kalli Bubb/The News
Kristin McNutt and her mother, Kathy McNutt, celebrate the family’s triumph over cancer.
On a day that symbolizes love, most people who celebrate Valentine’s Day celebrate the love they share with their significant other. Although, for some people, the day can be spent celebrating the love they have for other people in their lives, as well. For Kristin McNutt, junior from Murray, that person is her mother. McNutt’s mother, Kathy McNutt, was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer in 2010. Inflammatory breast cancer is the most rare and aggressive form of breast cancer and is diagnosed starting at stage three. Hearing of her mother’s illness was not something that Kristin took lightly. “We had always been really close,” she said. “But not being around her and like the thought of losing her just made my love for her grow like abundantly. Like, she’s absolutely one of my best friends now.” Through coping with her mother’s diagnosis, McNutt learned how important it is to show love no matter the occasion. “On any occasion, like any holiday, I always make a point to see
her,” she said. Kathy showed no evidence of disease (NED) after a year and a half of battling her cancer. Since then, Kristin and her mother have continued to grow closer together. “Just something that me and my mom always do, which we did before but not as much as we do now is we will just spend the night playing music and dancing around the house like crazy and just making sure that we spend that time together when normally it would’ve been her in the room on the phone with her friends and me in my room watching Netflix or something,” Kristin said. Kathy said from her viewpoint as the patient, dealing with the illness was easier for her than it was for her daughters as caretakers. “I’ve been on both sides and it’s easier being the patient,” Kathy said. “When you’re the patient you feel like you’re doing all you can to get better for the people you love, but when you’re the caretaker, it feels like you are paralyzed and have no way trying to change anything.” She said going through this situation alongside her daughters and family has made them all take more value in the time they spend
together. “Everyone’s attitudes kind of changed,” Kathy said. “We just talked nicer to each other and it just changes things. You think before you speak and you don’t react the same way you normally might. Time is so much more special to us now.” The biggest lesson that Kathy learned about love and family through her condition was how to be thankful. “I try not to look too far down the road,” she said. “I stay positive always, but I don’t worry so much and I am just thankful and appreciate the time and days that I have with my girls. You have to learn to take it one day and one step at a time.” Soon after her mother went into NED, a man came into the lives of the McNutt’s and made a lifelong impression on their family. As someone who was extremely close to Kristin, he taught her a lot about love and family, before he lost his battle with colon cancer after only a year and a half of being in her and her mother’s lives. “It’s not about blood that makes you family,” Kristin McNutt said. “It’s about the support system that you make.”
A very Murray Valentine’s Day Connor Jaschen || Features Editor cjaschen@murraystate.edu
For those hoping to make this Valentine’s weekend a special one, the Murray community offers a variety of ways to keep that special someone happy and interested. Whether it be a newfound infatuation or a long-time romance, everyone has the opportunity to add a little extra something to the tried and true “movie-and-a-dinner date,” as long as they are willing to look.
NATIONAL RESPECT ANNOUNCEMENT
Joining in on the national conversation on dating violence, Murray State’s Women’s Center will be participating in a large-scale social media “National Respect Announcement.” For students who may not have the chance to celebrate with their significant other, they can still take their chance to show their appreciation. Just by logging on to social media and taking the pledge against domestic violence, students can stand up for someone who may not be able to otherwise. Abigail French, director of the Women’s Center, encourages all couples to take the time and participate. “It’s a simple way to remind individuals that they are worth being treated with respect and to connect them to a support resource,” French said. “If only one person sees these posts and decides they do not deserve abuse, then the exercise will have been more than worth it.” The Respect Announcement is all day Friday. French encourages anyone with any questions to text ‘loveis’ to 22522 or visit loveisrespect.org.
PLAYHOUSE IN THE PARK
If you or your significant other is theatrically-inclined, this weekend will be the last chance to see the Playhouse in the Park’s production of “The Little Mermaid.” The musical will be in it’s second weekend of performances, beginning at 7 p.m. on Thursday through Saturday, with the last performance at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 7 at Playhouse in the Park. While plays may not be a traditional form of Valentine’s Day celebrating, framing the date as a more lively spin on “dinner and a movie” is sure to make for a memorable night all around.
CURRIS CENTER ENTERTAINMENT
For those budget-minded students who are still holding onto their much beloved flex dollars, Campus Activities Board will be setting up a piano player in the Curris Center from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Curris Center Rocking Chair Lounge for the sole purpose of serenading all who pass. So, feel free to swing by for a lunch break and listen to the soulful noises of Valentine’s Day, like Frank Sinatra and Michael Bublé. If those don’t suit you, Eric Obermeyer, senior from Jasper, Illinois and scheduled performer for the day, will be taking requests for the duration of his stay.
The News
February 11, 2016
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Vocalist consumed by love for singing matter how many times she goes on stage. However, once she is up there, everything changes, she said. Mistakes are inevitable, she said, but life goes on. “As long as you’re having fun the audience will have fun. If you’re freaking out and not having a good time, they wont either,” she said. Wibbenmeyer has faced her share of depreciation for her passion. With the new governor possibly cutting university funds, especially for the arts and humanities departments, Wibbenmeyer fears it will cause a ripple that will eventually turn into massive waves. “I could see why people would think that [music majors] are not appreciated, but imagine a world without music?” she said. “It would be horrible, it would be sad, you wouldn’t be able to dance. What would you jam to in your car?”
Gisselle Hernandez
Assistant Features Editor ghernandez1@murraystate.edu When other third-graders were thinking about what snack their moms had packed for lunch, Gabrielle Wibbenmeyer was thinking about her future as a singer. Wibbenmeyer, senior from St. Louis, has immersed herself in music all her life. From the moment her elementary school teacher noticed her passion and engagement in music classes, Wibbenmeyer already knew what she wanted to do for the rest of her life: sing. After 10 years of taking voice lessons, performing in musicals and being in choirs and bands, Wibbenmeyer majors in music education with a vocal emphasis at Murray State.
MUSICAL UPBRINGING
As a child, Wibbenmeyer’s first exposure to what would become a lifetime of practicing and countless voice lessons began when she joined the St. Louis Children’s Choir in third grade. Her passion only grew as she performed with the choir up until she graduated from high school. During that time, she was also involved in her high school choir, high school band and did a show almost every year since fifth grade. At Murray State, Wibbenmeyer has been in six shows, including three Campus Lights performances. She divides her time between practicing singing and also practicing her student-teaching. “It’s just a passion to perform,” she said. “I love to teach, too, so I’m excited to be a music teacher.” Wibbenmeyer’s parents have always been supportive, she said. Her mother was also in the church choir and lent guidance wherever Wibbenmeyer needed it. Her father, who did not sing at all, helped with her siblings who instead played soccer as a hobby. “As long as I was happy, they supported me fully,” she said. While her music talents skimmed over playing the violin in fifth grade or playing the French horn for three years, voice has definitely been the route she has perfected, Wibbenmeyer said. She has also taken four semesters of piano at Murray State as a music major requirement, spending hours in the
PASSION-DRIVEN GOALS
Jenny Rohl/The News
Wibbenmeyer, right, playing Dolly Parton in Campus Lights’ “9 to 5.” practice room reading music for her senior recital. When deciding on her major, Wibbenmeyer knew there was no other choice for a career. Her only concern was, “What can I do with it?” That is when she decided to major in education since she wanted to do what she loved and also have a family and a steady job. “Performance is my passion but it’s not the life I want to live,” she said. “I chose music teaching because that way I get to be involved but still have stability in my life.”
TEACHING HER TALENT
Wibbenmeyer believes music is essential to kids who want to have something to look forward to at school the next day. Math teachers are important, but once a kid falls in love with music, they don’t mind struggling through math if they know music class is next, she said. Currently, Wibbenmeyer is teaching music at a local high school as part of her education major requirement. She spends her days mentoring kids who share her talent as well. However, she said it’s often difficult to get them to share her passion in singing.
“It was hard because my whole life I’ve put in the time,” Wibbenmeyer said. “It’s a whole new world for me because I realize not everyone wants to go home and actually practice.” Wibbenmeyer aims to get as much exposure as possible in order to be the best teacher she can be, she said. On April 16, she is going to Belize for three weeks to student-teach at a high school. “I’ve been teaching music to so many age groups,” she said. “I think I’m now ready to teach music to a different culture.”
ARTIST ADVERSITIES
As a singer, Wibbenmeyer is constantly rethinking how she wants to spend her social life. Her weekends are often so jam-packed with performances that having a couple of drinks with friends on a Friday night can greatly affect her voice. In her sophomore year, Wibbenmeyer acquired tonsillitis and described it as a very difficult time in her life. “Staying healthy can be the toughest thing because losing your voice is extremely possible,” she said. Another difficulty she faces as a singer is nervousness. Wibbenmeyer said the feeling never goes away, no
Wibbenmeyer’s goal of becoming a music teacher is very likely, said Oliver Montgomery, sophomore from Louisville, Kentucky, who has known Wibbenmeyer for two years. “She inspires you to be a better you,” he said. “Gabrielle will achieve any goal that she sets her mind to, and that’s because she doesn’t quit.” To become better at what you love, one must consistently work hard; it doesn’t happen overnight, Wibbenmeyer said. Her proudest accomplishment is in fact made up of little accomplishments along the way that make her feel accomplished as a person. She said when you love something and people tell you you’re good at it, it’s an accomplishment in itself. “When people say stuff like, ‘Have you heard her sing? She’s phenomenal,’ it means a lot,” she said. “You work hard spending hours crying in a practice room that when they say that, you know it means something.” Despite moments where she has felt like giving up for that particular frustrating practice session, or when her music students are giving her a hard time, Wibbenmeyer believes it’s all worth it. “My dad always tells me to sing with a joyful heart, and that goes for anything you do. Do what you like with a joyful heart,” Wibbenmeyer said. “If you’re passionate about it, go for it. No matter what it is.”
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February 11, 2016
Love-of-Another: educators, couple, parents Kayla Harrell
News Editor
kharrell4@murraystate.edu
The sound of wedding bells ricochet off the walls of Wrather Auditorium as the bride glides down the aisle to her waiting groom. The eager wedding guests watch as the couple says their wedding vows and “I dos.” David Pizzo, assistant professor of history, and Robyn Pizzo, senior education abroad adviser, met at Murray State, shared their first kiss as a married couple within the walls of Wrather Auditorium in 2010 and nailed their shoes to the Shoe Tree, becoming a part of Murray State’s tradition. “Campus is what brought us together and one of the things we share,” David said. David and Robyn studied abroad together
multiple times and plan on going on more programs together. “We really play off each other’s strengths. We know each other well,” Robyn said. “I think that helps us make the students feel at ease.” David works with the academics side of the program, while Robyn deals with homesickness, discipline issues and agenda aspects. The Pizzos bring their 15-month-old daughter, Hazel, on their study abroad trips. Hazel will be “a much more traveled human being than either of us,” David said. “Her presence when we travel with students is a good thing,” David said. “Maybe it seems like they are traveling more with their parents than a peer.” Shayna Hall, senior from Mayfield, Kentucky, traveled with
the Pizzos to Berlin Summer 2015. “They were both very professional during the program, but their love for one another was evident,” Hall said. Hall said the couple stayed together most of the time, treated each other with respect, called each other terms of endearment and showed each other small signs of affection. Hazel also traveled with the couple to Berlin. David said the biggest thing they have to watch for when bringing their daughter on trips is that she does not interfere with the students’ experience. “I think one of the most important ways we show love to each other and to Hazel in a public way is to just try and be equal partners in everything that we are doing,” Robyn said. “So we share work responsibil-
ities, parenting responsibilities and we are supporting each other in all those aspects.” However, the couple brought up some challenges of maintaining all the aspects of their life. “It has been harder for both of us to find the right work-life balance now that we have a baby, trying to figure out how to be parents, still be good employees and good to each other,” Robyn said. “It is hard to find a balance.” The couple’s love for each other is shown through various means of respect, affection and shared responsibilities. However, Hall said their love for Hazel reflects their love the most. “Their love for each other overflowed into their love for their sweet baby,” Hall said. “In loving their child, they were able to show love to each other.”
Courtesy of David and Robyn Pizzo
David and Robyn Pizzo show their affection while holding their daughter, Hazel.
“Galentine’s Day:” cherishing the memories Brianna Willis || Staff writer bwillis2@murraystate.edu
This is my first Valentine’s Day in four years that I will be spending as a single woman. I was brushing my teeth before bed, looking at my calendar when it hit me. I will be single on Valentine’s Day. Willis Valentine’s Day is one of our society’s more notorious, or perhaps infamous, holidays. The day is dismissed by cynics as a commercial day where corporations raise prices on roses and chocolate, diamonds and pearls, and we sheep fall for it. On the other side, couples have somewhat begrudgingly accepted their fate as someone’s significant other and gift provider. Panic ensues as clueless boyfriends and eager girlfriends expect almost too much out
of each other one day of the year shrouded in red hearts and pink X’s and O’s. For me growing up Valentine’s Day was neither of those things. I did not have a long term boyfriend until I was 18, and before that the casual hang outs and “talking” (we like each other but who needs a label) phases I went through never resulted in gifts or acts of grandeur on Valentine’s Day. Rather, I always associated Valentine’s Day with love. “Isn’t that what it is supposed to be about?” Of course it is, but love can be expressed for lots of people in various forms. Love languages is a popular movement that has arisen out of the notion that people express love and like to receive love in 5 different ways: gift giving, acts of service, words of affirmation, quality time and physical touch. On Valentine’s Day, my mom would buy me duct tape in fun patterns or new cozy socks. She would make us breakfast, real biscuits or fluffy pan-
cakes. My brother would speak more gently towards me, I would give my mom a hug and a kiss on the cheek. When my brother became old enough to play video games seriously, I would do that with him. For us, Valentine’s Day wasn’t about a new bracelet from a boyfriend or girlfriend. It was about genuine love being expressed. Remember in elementary school when you had to buy valentines for your entire class? Someone’s mom would attach suckers or sweet tarts to everyone’s valentine, and we would have parties with cupcakes and balloons. When did all of that change? Why did we all grow up to expect gifts and fancy dates? Valentine’s Day could be so much more than chocolate and teddy bears. So I am proposing that this year we all do something different. Whether you are a “Parks and Recreation” fan, or just love your friends, why don’t we all embrace the Galentine’s Day (or the Palentine’s Day if you have a co-ed squad). This year, if you find
yourself single and commiserating by watching “The Notebook” while funneling Ben&Jerry’s Chunky Monkey in your mouth (like I was planning to do initially), pick up the phone. Text your friends. Invite them out to Los Portales for nachos and a pitcher of margaritas. Find yourself taking a road trip to a pier and watch the stars. Play a board game and make popcorn, turn on a movie you all enjoy and embrace the love we all have to give to each other. I am not saying not to take your significant other out for a night on the town this Valentine’s Day. However, I am saying we should all examine our plans and motives. Valentine’s Day could be a holiday about love, and I mean honest and pure love from friend to friend, mother to daughter, father to son, girlfriend to boyfriend, boyfriend to boyfriend or even co-worker to co-worker. Raise your glass this Valentine’s Day and cherish the memories and the love, not the gifts or the candy.
The News
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For the love of sports Former athletes find each other in the love of their sport Kelsey Randolph
Sports Editor
krandolph3@murraystate.edu
Love can be found in many places and can be had for many things – including sports. For former baseball player JD Thieke and former tennis player Melissa Thieke (formerly Spencer) the two found not only their love of sport, but for each other. Melissa, who is originally from the Atlanta area, recalled meeting her husband as a “funny” story. “It’s quite unique I guess you could say,” Melissa said. “We met briefly, then it wasn’t until a year later before we starting hanging out.” The two met at a mutual friend’s house playing a game, “cheating uno” in which players have to catch the other players cheating at the game, Uno. Melissa caught JD cheating at Uno and the two laughed. “Supposedly he was hard to catch – but I caught him,” Melissa said. A year later at the start of their junior year ,the two hit it off, and the rest is history, she says. Beginning their journey together was difficult because both played a dominantly spring-played sport, but JD says the best part was that the baseball and tennis team’s hung out together as a large group of
friends. “We balanced supporting one another at home and local events,” Melissa said. “Then we just had to understand what each other was going through. We related to each other, and that made it easy.” JD described their engagement as something low-key, not elaborate. They were with Melissa’s family for Christmas, after getting the blessing from her family, JD took Melissa aside from the family and got down on one knee. “It was intimate,” Melissa said. “Memorable and simple.” The two were married in 2005, recently celebrating their 10th anniversary. The couple plans a trip every year as tradition. On the odd years, JD plans a trip for the two of them and on the even years Melissa does the same thing. “We don’t have many traditions,” Melissa said. “But we do have that one thing. We are able to spend time together.” Now, the Thieke’s live in the Atlanta area close to Melissa’s family. Melissa studied business administration with an emphasis in real estate and JD studied engineering at Murray State. They agreed living in Atlanta would pose better opportunities for their careers. JD said he’s always played baseball and it’s been a huge part of his life. Melissa similarly played tennis growing up.
Photo courtesy of Melissa Thieke
Melissa Thieke and her husband JD watch the Racer basketball team with their kids, Madison and Spencer. In their junior year, both teams won the OVC Championship title. Melissa was OVC Player of the Year both her junior and senior year. The couple said, while they no longer play sports, it’s something they can enjoy with their two kids, Spencer (6 years old) who plays on a coach-pitched t-ball team and Madison (9 years old) who plays on a traveling softball team. “It was tough when we played the last game in college,” JD said. “Knowing that, it took a while to get through, but now I’m able to rekindle with my kids. And that’s a lot of fun.”
Photo courtesy of Melissa Thiekes
JD and Melissa Thieke in college at one of JD’s baseball games their junior year.
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The News
February 11, 2016
“I love food because it’s good. My favorite is pizza.” -Charles Porter, sophomore from Hilton County, Kentucky
“Probably my friends because they are always there. They always have my back no matter what.” -Gabriel Fowler, freshman from Benton, Kentucky
What is your
ne l ve? By Jenny Rohl/The News
“I love to spend time with friends and family during holidays, we have fun together.” -Flora Chan, graduate from Macau, China
“I love sports because they help me get away from everything. I’m in my own little world. My favorite sports are swimming and football.” -Quincy Williams, sophomore from Birmingham, Alabama
“I love music because it helps me relax and it’s something I enjoy to do. It’s fun for me.” -Larry Eakels, freshman from Murray
“I love color guard because I’ve been a part of it for about seven years now, and it’s my clique that I’ve found so I really love doing that.” -Maryssa Crook, freshman from Paducah, Kentucky
The News
Valentine’s
February 11, 2016
Unconditional love
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Allie Swann finds intimacy and peace in God’s love Abby Siegel
Assistant News Editor asiegel@murraystate.edu
Sitting alone in the backseat of a Ford Taurus, Allie Swann, junior from Murray said she heard God speak to her. She was on the way to a Racer basketball game at Belmont University with two friends sitting in the driver and passenger seats. To pass the time, she was reading a Christian book by Max Lucado silently, and when it got too dark to see the words on the pages she put her book down and looked out the window at the creation sitting under the dusk sky. Swann said she heard God say, “You are loved and you are going to do
great things for me.” She said it was a random moment of intimacy with God she had desired to have for months. It was the first time she heard God speak directly to her, though she grew up in a Christian home. She was taught about God from a young age. While staring at the trees and sky out the backseat window she said she felt His love in a deep, intimate way. “I think the love that God gives has no prerequisite,” Swann said. “No, ‘You have to do this and this for me to love you.’” Swann said it is hard to put God’s love into words but describes it as unconditional and forgiving. “Jesus always gives you a second chance,
and I can fail Him time and time again, but He always brings me back to Him,” she said. Like other Murray State students, Swann said she can become overwhelmed by all that is required of her, being involved in Racer Band and the Baptist Campus Ministry, in addition to be being a communication disorders major, striving to develop skills to prepare her for a career with children with special needs. “Knowing Jesus brings me a peace about all of the stresses that come with life and come with being a college student,” she said. “Having the love of God reminds me that there is so much more to this existence and the existence after we
have our earthly life.” When overwhelmed, Swann said she always comes back to admiring God’s creation to give her peace about life and His character. “There have been times recently where I can only see so far in front of my face, and then something happens and I fall to my knees and say, ‘I can’t do it anymore,’ and He [God] says, ‘Look, there is so much more than what you are focused on,’” she said. Despite the stresses she feels, Swann said sharing love with others, both in her everyday relationships and to special needs children is something she is compelled to do because of the love she feels from God. Based on the foun-
dations of Christianity, God gave His only son Jesus to die on a cross for all of humanity, so those who have a relationship with Him could live an abundant life on earth, and have eternal life in heaven with Him after death. “When you hear the story of Jesus and the sacrifices he made for our sins, for our freedom … you start to see changes in your life and you start to give others that love you’ve so freely been given,” she said. “When you feel the love of God, you start to love other sin the same way.” Swann said she believes that God is present in everyone’s life, but they must be open to Him and His love. “I think everybody
has a void, and they try to fill it in their own particular way,” she said. “And there is nothing that can satisfy that void but the love of God.” This love is similar to a romance story, Swann said, because it is felt through communication and building a relationship with him. There are intimate moments like the moment Swann felt when looking out the backseat window. “He wants to spend time with us – He wants to get to know us, even though He already knows everything about us,” she said. “But His love is more than just a romance because it doesn’t matter how far you stray, He is always there for you to come home to.”
Nicole Ely/The News
(Left) A student holds up her favorite Bible verse about love. (Right) A heart with a verse from Ephesians written on it, placed on top of a Bible.
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The park echoed in the early morning with the footfalls of runners, the steady slap of rubber on macadam carrying across the park and out onto the lake where a skiff’s dark form bobbed against the sloped shores. Beneath the ponderosa, homeless men camped in weary sleep. Brothers traded a soccer ball across the dead Bermuda grass while their father smoked on a nearby bench. Above the eastern flank of the earth, the sun crested opposite the Rockies, and all across the city, lovers rose from bed to estimate the nature of their stay. Some regarded their bedmates’ faces approvingly and then settled back into the sheets. Others left the unfamiliar apartments to the car lots where the figures of men scampered away like feral cats that were only a minute ago inspecting the backseats of cars through rear windows. Of the two types of lovers, the girl making her second lap around Sloan Lake had been the latter. Now in her 25th year, she was trying to forget names. The beautiful Russian boy with the bad teeth in New Haven.
The News
Valentine’s
February 11, 2016
SLOAN Short story by Jared Slayden
The deaf postman in North Warren. Most recently, the married man in St. Clair who liked to show her pictures of his wife and kids. The last was the primary reason she took the train from Michigan to Denver, where she spent her first month sleeping on an acquaintance’s couch. On the north side of the lake, a Tennessean boy and a friend from Littleton pushed off from the shore aboard the wooden skiff, Tennessee paddling from the bow and Littleton in the stern. Neither spoke while the skiff passed lethargic and predatory over the heads of mid-water carp. On the eastern shore, Tennessee could see the girl running against the low sun, visible and then not behind the slatted tree line. She resembled a girl he’d left behind in Chapel Hill. They caught a few smallmouths and returned to shore where the girl was bent over with her palms on her knees, drawing hard breaths and watching them dock. She asked to see the fish. He torqued the jaw of the small crappie between his thumb and fore-
finger and held it out to her. She cupped her hands beneath the fish as though it might drop, her eyes green up close and her smile pleasant and bewildered at his small catch. He noted her strong nose, the slight cleft of her chin. He offered to let her hold the fish. “My father used to bring home rainbow trout he caught in Lake Erie,” she told him. She took the fish from him, holding down the dorsal fin with her fingers and placing her thumb across the belly. “He would have been embarrassed to show this fish to a blind person.” He took the fish from her and tossed it back into the water. “Come back here tomorrow and I’ll have one of those big carp.” “It’d have to make the evening news to win back my respect.” She laughed, reached out and touched his arm. The next four mornings he waved to her from across the water, and she waved back. On the fifth morning, he went out alone, and he caught the carp with corn bait and netted it. She left her shoes on the pavement of
the walking track and held the boat ashore while he brought the fish out, her bare feet sinking into the mud. He gripped the fish around the tail and the belly, and she held out her hand and stroked its slimy flank as though it were a dog. He noticed that she stood watching him and not the carp, and he knew then the next few months would pass quickly and easily and that the loneliness he’d accumulated in this vast, western city would pass with them. Then came the first of many firsts. First drinks in the battered taverns where no-name bands played for tip money. Evening walks in the park where they nodded in partial familiarity to other passing couples. Fourth then fifth beers. A drunken kiss on Colfax, waiting for the taxi. Visits to the other’s apartment, trips to Boulder and Golden, driving the high mountain passes and facing east so the land lay in barren wastes visible for hundreds of miles, giving him a hollow and happy feeling in his chest. They stayed in diners so late that
The News
February 11, 2016
Valentine’s
11
LAKE the waiters retired to their own booths with books and regarded them no longer, and he told her of his childhood in the Midsouth where his father died a drunkard and where he once played in the pecan orchards with his brother whom he had not spoken to in years. She listened and rarely spoke during these times, and never of herself, and all he knew of her was what she had made of herself during her time in the city. He learned she could sing well. He also learned that she liked to make love and was good at it. The first time she took him on the floor of her apartment, they had left the TV on, and she told him over its noise, This is good for me but it doesn’t mean anything. He always agreed, but he never believed her or himself. Then the parched summer months began to chill, though the Colorado sun still hung cloudless and unhindered in the sky, and snow came in powered inches during late September. They still frequented they park, where a mother and her children were making their weekend laps along with a Little League referee that handled the
children’s soccer matches. The man they’d watched become more adroit on his unicycle now pedaled easily and less comically, leaving a singular track through the snow in his wake. The girl was always restless now, needing a joint before going to the movies or to the record shops. Littleton spent more and more time with them, ready with pot or conversation should this new terseness arise between them. Before long, she was not answering calls or interested in going out to Boulder or anywhere else when she did answer. During that November, a homeless man stopped Tennessee beneath one of the pines on Sloan Lake’s western face. “Where’s that pretty girl you’re always about here with?” He looked at the, who shrugged. The man continued, “I know where she is.” “Where?” The old man grinned. “You’re the boy that used to do all that fishing.” The boy shrugged again. “Yes. So.” “She’s been learning how to handle that skiff.” “What’re you talking about?”
The old man laughed and unseated himself and then squatted on his haunches. “Who’s she been out there on the water with if it isn’t you?” The next night he got ahold of her, and in the morning, he took her out on the skiff. He stopped paddling near the middle of the lake and let the boat drift in slow inertia. Cold winds came down from the mountains that morning and moved with no resistance across the lake, and the girl and boy were both huddled into themselves. She admitted what he’d feared without him even prompting, and then she was quiet. “What do you want me to do now?” He sat looking off toward the mountains. She shrugged. “You could always go back to Chapel Hill. You could talk to your brother again.” He dove from the boat in childish gesture of anger and swam toward the shoreline, his figure sending away from him the dark shapes of fish beneath the water, his progress slow and steady, and her thinking to herself, He’s going to be cold and sick later,
and then he’ll regret this. He did get sick later, and he did not see her again after that morning. He came back to the park again for a few months afterwards, even in dead winter, never with Littleton who had taken to fishing elsewhere. He watched the runners, occasionally matching her gait to that of another though it was never really her, and he noted for the first time the absence of familiars whom he’d come to associate with the park, like flora. He lay beneath a tree while the sole remnant of those gone months pedaled by, weaving his unicycle occasionally between the sparse walkers. He listened. Muted voiced coming across the water. The tolling of bells from the nearby Vietnamese church. Footfalls, regular and heavy like the strike of a hammer. The city was no longer a latticework of unknowable streets, but a place divided into two parts. Where he was and wherever she was now.
Jared Slayden is a senior creative writing major from Clinton, Kentucky.
“love is the voice under all silences, the hope which has no opposite in fear; the strength so strong mere force is feebleness: the truth more first than sun more last than star� - e.e. cummings