The Pitch: January 2023

Charley Crockett cut no corners bringing Nashville to The Uptown

BY TYLER SCHNEIDER

American blues, country, and Americana artist Charley Crockett and his band The Blue Drifters have surely made their mark on Kansas City after a three-song encore closing their recent performance at the Uptown Theater. The Texas singersongwriter led his group through a mix of foot-tapping original songs and covers Wednesday, Nov. 30. Check out our online coverage of the event here.

Drastic Mensches brings Hanukkah joy (and drinks) to downtown Shawnee

BY JORDAN BARANOWSKI

A Hanukkah-themed popup bar made its way to Shawnee’s cocktail hotspot, Drastic Measures. The bar’s limited-time menu included a dozen new cocktails for the occasion with 50% of all sales going to the Kansas City branch of Jewish Family Services to fight antisemitism. Read more here.

Four Inane Questions with drag queen extraordinaire Loretta Martin

BY MICHAEL MACKIE

Seasoned drag queen Loretta Martin has been showing off her extraordinary skills on stage for 28 years now. Now a regular cast member at Missie B’s, the performer has her very own live singing show every other Friday. Get to know the queen more here.

26

KC CARES KC Cares

Kansas City Young Audiences

BY BROCK WILBUR

BY BETH LIPOFF

BY GRACE WILMOT

BY NICK SPACEK

BY DREW WINDISH

BY DREW WINDISH

BY TYLER SCHNEIDER

BY BROCK WILBUR

BY SARAH SIPPLE

BY IVY ANDEREGG

BY KATE FRICK

Presented by Founding Partners Platinum Sponsors J. Rieger & Co. Stella Artois Unshackled Wines

Editor-in-Chief

Brock Wilbur

President & Chief Operating Officer

Andrew Miller

Director of Marketing & Promotions

Jason

Dockery

Associate Editor

Steph Castor

Community Manager

Sarah Sipple Sales Executive

Erin Carey Music Editor

Nick Spacek

Film Editor

Abby Olcese

Calendar Editor

Thomas White

Little Village Creative Services

Jordan Sellergren

House Designers

Miroslav Pavlovic

Cassondra Jones

Contributing Writers

Liz Cook, Barb Shelly, Beth Lipoff, Michael Mackie, Kristen Thomas, Kala Elkinton, Michael Cripe, Jordan Baranowski, Tyler Shane, Justin Burnell, Emeline Hutton, Lauren Textor, Sophia Johnson, Isaac Biehl, Caroline Rose Newman, Nina Cherry, Adrian Torres, Patrick Moore, Kate Frick, Scott Poore, Hannah Strader, Grace Wilmot, Ivy Anderegg, Drew Windish, Kelcie McKenney, Tyler Schneider

Contributing Photographers

Zach Bauman, Chase Castor, Travis Young, Jim Nimmo, Chris Ortiz, Destiny Frack, Barry Meitler, Archana Sundar, Angela C. Bond, Anna Perry-Rushton

Contributing Designers and Illustrators

Alex Peak, John Alvarez, Jake Edmisten

Editorial Interns

Sofia Mongillo

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Letter

from

the Editor

THE SALT IN OUR STARS

By Brock Wilbur

I used to kickstart the New year by burying myself under resolutions. Too many, in fact—a guaranteed crash and burn. I tripped out of the gate so many times, my internal process became that all New Year’s resolutions needed to actually truly really be in effect by Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the middle of the month. This was by necessity as I managed to fuck up many of my better intentions by the end of the first week, and required some leniency to get back in the saddle.

That kind of staunch adherence to an overly complicated plan always failed for me by the end of February (at best), and in recent years I’ve made a pivot. “Optimism” is, to me, at least, the most powerful energy to harness at this early point in January. Here’s why:

Back in 2020, I interviewed local astrologist Julia Purdy around the release of her book The Jupiter Advantage. As an almost crippling cynic, even taking the meeting was the kind of thing I’d not have usually set aside time for. Fortunately, Pitch staffer Kelcie McKenney had recently forced me to install the Co-Star astrology app to compare our ~vibes~ in the office. I was on a bit of a kick in opening myself to, at the very least, filling in a blindspot of knowledge regarding what anyone on this end of the wellness spectrum believed.

Over a two-hour conversation (which you can hear in edited form on The Pitch’s Streetwise podcast), Julia’s scientific approach to the history and mathematics of charting the stars may have fried my brain ever so slightly. While not a believer, I was floored by the intricate nature of how she processed my information. Included on this page is merely one example of work she pulled from my life, and, while I’m not totally sure what any of it means, it does generate a Huge Mood.

And “mood” remains my big takeaway from the experience. While I associate star reading and fortune telling and all associated practices with a long history of rubes being taken advantage of, there was a practical and trackable result of the time we spent together. This had been a discussion about the future; time set aside to just think about possibilities. A little personal pocket

of expressing out loud what my dreams and aspirations could manifest as, and which among those corresponded to my personality type, skill sets, and personal history.

I was, as ever, dear reader, my same salty self about all of it. But I did leave the experience with a spring in my step that day. It carried through for several weeks, and it did weasel its way into my subconscious, giving me a bit of internal slack on my otherwise strenuous ties around needing to white-knuckle my days and future into submission.

It’s soooo Virgo of me to write the whole thing off as bunk. It’s perhaps a bit wiser for me to interrogate how much a slight shift in my aspirations and self-examination changed me for the better. In short, simply bringing optimism to a vocal discussion of the future yielded a few benefits that I cannot write off.

And that’s what we’re doing, now on a citywide scale, in this month’s issue.

We’ve been reading the tea leaves on what we’re most excited for in 2023—the people and places whose fingers are on the pulse of our immediate future—and this is a look at some of their stories.

KC has an esports team that’s competing on an international scale in the cutthroat video game world, bolstered by support from big Chiefs players, and our first

major foray into a new kind of sport entirely is so goddamned sick. We’ve got artists locally who are expanding what we think of when we conceive identity and our place on the world stage. Equally, we’re searching for heroes to help us grapple with the mistakes in our history and mend wounds with wronged communities, while local business people are using their spaces to create sustainable—and delicious—options for sustenance. Control of our bodies and our reproductive futures are the focus of huge questions that we need to be discussing in a public space. And finally, we’ve got a swath of upstart organizations and creators that are putting KC on the map in, of all things, the non-alcoholic booze space.

Placing the tarot cards on the table before us, a clear pattern of hope, excitement, and adventure shows itself. Even if the idea of interpreting cups tracks like bullshit to you, we think any member of the metro would find it hard not to share in our collective exhilaration with the possibilities presented. Maybe that little extra spark of optimism is all it takes to light the fire.

Pitch in and we’ll make it through,

A path to Brock. Chart by Julia Purdy

Search for 90.9 The Bridge

Indigenous Indignations

By Drew Windish

Violence and injustice committed against the Indigenous peoples, communities, and nations of the world isn’t news; no one knows this more than the Indigenous students and faculty at the University of Kansas.

On Sept. 20, the University of Kansas Provost released a written statement admitting to their collection of Indigenous ancestral remains and their intent to return the artifacts to their respective tribal nations.

While KU publicly committed itself to return these stolen objects, the news about the possession of ancestral remains and artifacts disturbed many within the university, the United States, and of course, across Indigenous communities.

“The discovery of ancestors’ remains in the possession of the University of Kansas is deeply upsetting,” says Representative Sharice Davids, herself a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and a Haskell Indian Nations University alumni. “I am thinking of the Native community at KU and across Kansas, and I share their pain. I have spoken with KU officials about their plans to work with Tribal leaders and officers on repatriation and am hopeful this important effort continues as we work through the healing process.”

KU’s released statement does not mention the specific halls in which the remains are located, which are now known to be in Fraser Hall, Spooner Hall, the Natural History Museum, and Lippincott Hall—the latter hall housing the university’s offices of the Indigenous Studies Program (ISP). Paper signs now hang on the front entrances warning students about the remains, and the offices of ISP sit deserted.

With the university’s announcement and the de-housing of ISP, many sit waiting for answers and updates about the ongoing situation. And while this certainly comes as a shock to Indigenous students, nations, and communities, many share exasperated grievances at the University’s silence.

“You kind of grow up with it,” says Myltin Bighorn, member of Fort Peck’s Assiniboine & Sioux Tribal Nations and graduate student at KU. “[KU’s Statement] was obviously shocking; it’s something you don’t want to hear. But then again, you almost tire yourself out again. Like this is going to happen again because it seems like every year something goes on.”

Just last year, protests erupted over the defacing of artist Edgar Heap of Birds’ “Native Hosts.” This artwork featured five signs that name Indigenous tribes that historically

inhabited the area now called Kansas. One of the five of the artwork’s panels was stolen by what appeared to be KU students on video camera. In the end, no arrests were made, and the stolen panel was recovered. In an official statement from KU PSO Deputy Chief James Druen, the suspects said they were intoxicated and hadn’t realized the significance of the artwork.

“From an Indigenous perspective, it’s sacred space, just like the chapel is,” Professor Sarah Deer told The Lawrence Times. “So the psychic harm of having a synagogue or a chapel damaged or vandalized—it’s very parallel, but people don’t often see that.”

Even though the suspects had not known the mural’s significance, these instances of Indigenous cultural unawareness demonstrate that even passivity can enact violence unto Indigenous communities.

While the Provost’s announcement earlier this year dismayed students and faculty who were unaware of the university’s possession of these artifacts, the announcement was not the first time that administrators were aware of the remains.

In 2005, the University of Kansas was urged by Associate Professor James Riding In at Arizona State University to return stolen items to their respective tribes, accusing them of being out of compliance with Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation (NAGPRA) protocols.

“Other universities take better care of their collections,” says Riding In, according to Lawrence Journal World. “Some universities seem eager to comply. KU seems to be reluctant.”

The university is likely to have had these ancestral remains longer than 2005, maybe as long as the university’s founding itself. Still, they were only ever legally compelled to hand over the artifacts as of 1990 under NAGPRA.

NAGPRA was enacted by Congress Nov.

16, 1990, requiring federal agencies and institutions that receive federal funding to return Indigenous cultural artifacts and remains to the lineal descendants that represent the artifact’s respective tribal nation.

Under NAGPRA, it is a criminal offense to traffic Native American human remains or cultural items without the right of possession.

Even after the 30 years NAGPRA has existed, institutions across the United States are still dragging their feet in allocating resources to the safe return of Indigenous artifacts they hold.

For instance, Aug. 3, nearly a month before the statement released by the KU Provost, the University of North Dakota announced that a team of faculty and staff too had found “sacred objects from Indigenous communities.”

Their statement can be found on their dedicated repatriation website, which includes a follow-up update posted Nov. 2—a formal apology video hosted by UND president Andrew Armacost and VP for Health Affairs Dr. Joshua Wynne, as well as some video recordings of the many meetings held to discuss their repatriation efforts on campus.

The updates inform the public about the Repatriation Committee’s close collaboration with the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences to “bring all skeletal remains to our repatriation facility for examination by our consulting team of osteologists.”

As for the announcements made by the University of Kansas, no official update or verbal public apology has been given, save for a job opening for a Repatriation Program Manager position that can be found on ZipRecruiter—a job posting that the university has failed to fulfill by their own slated deadline of Dec. 5 at the time of this writing.

One KU graduate student, Alicia Swimmers, contends that even upon the hiring of a Repatriation Program Manager, the task is

simply too expansive and complex for even one person to handle. The expectation that one expert can handle all Indigenous cultures encroaches on pan-Indianism—the supposition that all Indigenous cultures are the same.

“I feel like they need an expert that’s familiar with Native people, but I feel like they don’t understand that Natives are all different,” says Swimmers. “We have different customs, different beliefs on death, different beliefs on hiding stuff. They almost create this false impression of Native nations: that they are untouchable. You can’t get to them. You can’t talk to them. Maybe that’s how they feel with their tribe, but in my tribe, it’s a complete open-door policy. We can go in there and ask them questions, hold them accountable, and the things that we tell them—they use their title to get justice and visibility on situations. So, whoever they hire is going to have to realize that they can’t apply their personal Native beliefs and blanket across.”

Swimmers is a member of the Lakota Nation and co-chair of the Indigenous Studies Student Association (ISSA). Earlier this year, Swimmers worked with ISSA co-chair

ANCESTRAL REMAINS WITHHELD AT THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS

Advisory signs hang outside the halls of Fraser, Lippincott, Spooner, and the Natural History Museum warning students about the building’s holding of Indigenous artifacts and ancestral remains. Photos by Drew Windish

Yamina Sfiat and KU Senate Representative Anthony Hudson to pass a student resolution to demand that the Chancellor and Provost meet the demands of Indigenous students in response to the Provost’s announcement made in September.

The resolution was passed unanimously Oct. 18 by the KU Student Senate and demanded that Chancellor Doug Girod and KU Provost Barbara Bichelmeyer “follow through with the requests and concerns stated by the Indigenous Studies department and the Indigenous communities on campus.”

In response, two listening sessions with the Provost and Vice Provost were hosted to hear student demands beyond KU Senate’s passed resolution.

“It didn’t really feel like a listening session,” says Swimmers. “It was more like we’ll hear your comment, and then we’re gonna come back at you like we’re in court.”

Some of the requests during this listening session included adequate signage on campus to inform students what buildings currently house remains and what nations represented are being withheld. It is confirmed that Indigenous nations of the South Americas and Aboriginal tribes are among those represented within the remains, but the flimsy print paper taped to the doors of Lippincott Hall currently does not elaborate as to which tribal nations the withheld artifacts

belong to.

Swimmers also contends that not only are letters addressed to concerned tribal nations ready to be sent, dormant in wait for the Chancellor’s signature but that some remains were relocated from Fraser to Lippincott Hall without giving notice to those respective Indigenous tribal nations of their relocation.

Hudson, a co-author of the KU Senate resolution, attended one of these listening sessions and remarked on a student who brought forth documentation that urged KU to repatriate their Indigenous artifacts nearly 50 years ago. While the University of Kansas was not obligated to do so by NAGPRA protocols until 1990, the issue demonstrates a trend of ignorance and silence.

“The university has known about this for years. Fifty years ago, there was a huge push in the media to get this taken care of, and all of a sudden, it died out. And I am really afraid that 50 years from now, we’re going to look back at 2022, and we’re going to see media reports that are going to mention over 200 remains on KU’s campus. And we’re going to go, ‘What happened? There’s still 200 remains here.’”

An online federal database completed back in the ‘90s estimates that KU is currently in possession of a minimum of 380 individuals, including 554 funerary artifacts.

Another grievance listed within the KU Student Senate resolution was for the alloca-

tion of resources to dedicate an entire building to the needs of Indigenous studies and ongoing activities, similar to Native cultural centers built at the Indiana University of Bloomington, Colorado State, and Northern Arizona University.

For now, ISP has been temporarily placed on the third floor of Snow Hall with no plan for permanent relocation.

The University of Kansas has yet to fully accommodate and respond to the demands presented by KU Student Senate and the Indigenous community. Their inability to communicate transparent action within the repatriation process suggests stagnation within their own administration, making the complete return of these remains seemingly impossible.

“Last thing I hate to hear is, ‘wait till next year,’ and it gets swept under the rug,” says Bighorn. “It needs to be a priority—on top of the list. Everyone’s listening. Hopefully, next year—next semester—Native students, including myself, don’t have to endure or go through this again.”

But while the process of repatriation may seem like a grueling and grieving process even when done properly, a talk presented by Chief Duane Hollow Horn Bear suggests that full repatriation is necessary and attainable.

On Nov. 4, Hollow Horn Bear came to the Lied Center of Kansas to describe his own

experience. When the Welkulturem Museum in Frankfort, Germany renewed their repatriation efforts last year, Hollow Horn Bear was informed that he was to receive a leather shirt that belonged to his great-grandfather Chief Daniel Hollow Horn Bear.

He explained that even though he was a Chief and Elder, he was not ready to accept the items as it was a humbling experience and a great responsibility.

“I liked that he was able to tell his personal journey through getting those artifacts back and explain the importance of these items,” says Swimmers. “Even though they’re not human remains, those things should have been buried or belonged to somebody [Indigenous]. Everything that we make in our culture is spiritually connected.”

At the time of this writing, the University of Kansas has not yet released an official statement updating the public about the ongoing situation, nor have they hosted a gathering for a verbal public apology.

Repatriation is an ongoing process that the Indigenous nations around the country are well accustomed to. It takes an effort of communication and transparency between administrators and Indigenous communities.

“That’s the only way that this is going to be taken care of,” says Hudson. “If we seek understanding from one another and find common ground and move forward.”

APEX PREDATORS

KC PIONEERS ARE AN ESPORTS FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH

By Tyler Schneider

I. Revving Up

Rocket League is the only video game where remote-controlled cars and trucks play 3-on3 soccer with a giant ball. For eight years, the title has remained one of the most popular and competitive esports worldwide, with roughly 90 million players logging in each month in 2022.

One of the better teams in the current professional scene is undoubtedly the Kansas City Pioneers, who, despite their name, are actually a trio of Australian players and recently one of just 16 international squads to have qualified for the Rocket League Championship Series’ Fall Major, held in Rotterdam, Netherlands from Dec. 8-11.

The multifaceted Pioneers brand, also a recently acquired Apex Legends roster, looks to be highly competitive—if not one of the best—in Europe at a vastly popular hero shooter game with over 100 million players. The Pioneers also have representation in the first-person shooter, Splitgate, owning a team of which two players live in Germany and the other two in the U.S.

It’s bizarre, but certainly not unheard of, for an esports franchise to invest in outfits based overseas. In this new era of connectivity, it would almost be hindering not to break from the traditional molds of centralized, location-specific entertainment. Far fewer choose to name their brand after a specific city, however, as the Pioneers’ main ownership group of five Kansas City-based co-founders chose to do three years ago.

“We recognized that there wasn’t much going on organizationally in Kansas City and the Midwest in general [with esports] and saw so much potential for streaming, technological advancement, and huge opportunities to drive revenues for our city with partnerships. As business owners, we immediately recognized the opportunity at hand,” co-owner Sam Kulikov says.

This summer, Mayor Quinton Lucas— who has done charity Among Us streams with the team in the past—proclaimed July 21 as the city’s official “Pioneers Day.” Three current Chiefs players—wide receiver Mecole Hardman, offensive lineman Trey Smith, and offensive tackle Andrew Wylie—have also come on board to serve as brand ambassadors and content creators.

“We want to build the next sports franchise. We want to be recognized just like the KC Current, the Chiefs, and Royals,” co-founder Jeremy Terman says. “We want that same

type of stuff, and we’ve made phenomenal traction so far.”

In addition, the Pioneers have sponsored former Madden 17 champion and Kansas City native Matt Clark, who goes by BeastModeMac, for several years. In the past, they have fielded competitive outfits for titles like Valorant, Halo Infinite, Call of Duty, and Gears of War

II. The Trailhead

The concept for what would become the Pioneers organization came from the mind of LJ Browne when he was still just a senior at Blue Valley North High School in 2019.

Still fresh out of school, Browne, now 21 and a co-owner but working elsewhere in esports, knew he would need to assemble an administrative team with the collective knowhow to make things happen. He reached out to Alex Laughlin, who he knew via Twitter as the founder of a prominent competitive NBA 2k league.

“I wanted to learn how to raise money for my ideas for [the Pioneers]. I called him for advice on raising capital, and he ended up being the first guy I officially brought on board, probably about three to four weeks after I’d started the brand,” Browne says.

With Laughlin, 32, signed on as chief operations officer, the next step was to figure out how to introduce the concept that would become the Pioneers.

For this, they contacted Sam Kulikov, who produced their first promo video through Social Apex, a Kansas City-based digital marketing agency he co-founded with current Pioneers CEO Mark Josey, who would become CEO shortly after that, and Kulikov, the Pioneers’ chief marketing officer. At the same

time, Terman would round out the co-founding five as a chief strategic advisor.

“Before you know it, we’re signing investors, securing sponsorships, and in the process of signing teams,” Josey says. “Now here we are, three and a half years later.”

In that time, the Pioneers grew to about 42 employees and established partnerships with local businesses like Price Chopper and Guy’s Snacks and sponsorships with brands like Logitech and SCUF Gaming. Sitting at yearly operations of around $800,000, the team has raised $1.6 million to date to expand the brand down the road.

“More people are watching esports now than traditional sports in general, especially the younger generation,” Kulikov says.

III. A New Frontier

On one hand, the bludgeoning appeal of esports and streaming—and specifically the ethical debate behind microtransactions— may appear to many Americans as nothing more than the two newest horsemen of an already apocalyptic modern media landscape—overarching services that compete for our attention by tickling our neurons with stimuli at the probable cost of our future attention spans.

Kulikov, 26, urges any would-be critics or even the strongest skeptics to take a closer look. Unlike binging a streaming service or becoming an unfeeling product of the algorithms, gaming is particularly unique in that it is an active medium—one that people of all backgrounds all over the world seem to overwhelmingly enjoy.

“You think about the last fifteen to twenty years of media and how it created this ‘dystopia of connection.’ We’re communicating

every second, but we’re not really connected,” Kulikov says. “I think that [esports] is a natural evolution of human connection. Gaming and live stream content is reassuring us that the ability to be connected and be able to find that sense of community and those friendships that maybe some of us were missing when we were just engaging on social media platforms.”

At its very best, gaming—and the interactive, participatory experience it has become—represents what Kulikov describes as “a self-serving ecosystem.”

“Traditional advertising is starting to lose traction in that regard. It’s not wasted. It’s not useless, but at the same time, we’re talking about media and the consumption of content. Gaming is at that forefront,” Kulikov says.

Understanding the KC Pioneers as a media conglomerate, as a brand, as that sort of malleable, post-postmodernist concept, in-

The Pioneers cheer and share a fist bump. Photo by Michal Konkol/Pioneers KC

stead of a traditional legacy sports franchise, is crucial to this idealogy.

“It’s all kind of starting to fall under one umbrella, and I think what we’re trying to encapsulate at the Pioneers is that we are a gaming brand. We have athletes who travel all over the world and play all over the world as well,” Laughlin says.

IV. Ties to Tradition

Despite the obvious differences between “traditional” sports and their digital brethren, the intersection is also a fascinating subject of discussion. As young professional NFL, NBA, and MLB players come up from Gen Z and beyond, more and more are making themselves visible to fans as streamers and even doing promotional partnerships with popular titles.

Trey Smith, the sixth-round draft pick and current starting guard for the Chiefs, is an excellent example of this trend on the local stage.

In 2021, Smith was on the cusp of being drafted to play a child’s sport professionally for millions of potential lifetime earnings. Afterward, the Grand Champion ranked Rocket League player said he was too busy collecting boosts and tallying shots on goal to worry much about where the chips fell.

Gaming can certainly provide relaxation and a welcomed distraction for athletes trying to relieve physical and emotional stress a few days before a must-win game. On the flip side, it can also offer a competitive outlet for an injured player as he or she awaits surgery or goes through their rehabilitation process.

“These professional athletes are humans too. This is how they decompress. This is what they do, and you feel and connect with that,” Laughlin says.

Another benefit for pros who stream comes in the ability to connect with fans in a much more intimate, interactive setting—allowing them to develop their brands outside of the 100+ horizontal yards that dictate much of their primary profession.

“When you’re on the field, you have your helmet on, and people don’t see you. What we’re seeing now with NFL and NBA players, in particular, who are involved with gaming is that these athletes are going to continue to have more and more bargaining power when it comes to building their brand, doing things their way, and connecting with [fans and] consumers in their own way,” Kulikov says.

All the while, local professional teams in traditional sports and the Pioneers’ venture into the new realm of esports can and should coexist.

V. Foundations and the Future

One of the founding principles of the Kansas City Pioneers is the belief that anyone can answer the call that millions of esports and streaming fans all over the world have already picked up over the last decade or two. When viewed properly as the active medium it inherently is, gaming is often at its best as a socially stimulating and, ideally, inclusive experience.

“The reality is that consumers are all different races, different backgrounds, different minority groups, and people of color. It’s more important now than ever to represent your brand and community, and gaming is a perfect medium to connect with so many people from different backgrounds,” Kulikov says.

This philosophy led the investment in the future of esports by purchasing a female-only competitive Rocket League league called Women’s Car Ball, the second largest of its kind worldwide, roughly one year ago.

“The goal right off the bat was to carve out a safe space for women in esports and gaming,” Josey says. “So we decided first to get our own team and give them the same gear, resources, and the peripheral support we offer our other teams, including access to our behavioral cognitive performance coach.”

Initially, the Pioneers had just a single

team in this union, but it didn’t take long for them to purchase the whole league outright.

“We just joined force with the existing community to actually help drive tournaments, find enterprising leadership, and ultimately establish a league with the proper infrastructure and scale,” Josey explains. “It takes that level of investment to develop skills and grow the competitive player pool. We wanted to provide a pathway for that.”

Josey says the current WCB community includes roughly 1,000 players plus a Discord community with about 250 pros in around 30 Rocket League teams.

Locally, the Pioneers have several active partnerships with organizations like The Boys & Girls Club of KC—for whom they will collaborate with other local organizations like the Kansas City Esports Coalition to host events like Gaming for Good, a charity Rocket League tournament benefitting those very same boys and girls.

“You have to have an emotional commitment to what you’re doing. I think that’s number one,” Josey explains. “We really believe in this. We’re really passionate about being a premier entertainment, lifestyle, and gaming organization across the globe while being in Kansas City and able to reflect and give back to the community we serve.”

NARRATIVE THREADS

HISTORY AND IDENTITY COLLIDE IN HÙNG LÊ’S

OEUVRE

By Ivy Anderegg

Entering an artist’s studio is like opening a diary. What is more intimate than viewing erratically displayed concepts as though there is no manner to extricate their thoughts quickly enough? Hùng Lê’s studio is a display of passion, with project outlines covering the walls, a garment rack of reclaimed fabric in the corner, and the studio pet—a vat of indigo dye—filling the space.

Lê is a Vietnamese artist using his voice to uncover personal narratives as an Asian American in the Midwest. Creating art to share his experiences with immigration and adaptation, Lê challenges the concept of the American Dream and its faulty construction in modern society.

Originally from Đồng Nai, Vietnam, his family immigrated to the United States when he was seven, building a home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After moving to the U.S., Lê had to quickly adapt to educational and social settings as he learned to speak English, using art to find a common ground in expression. Without words, Lê was able to express himself in an unrestricted manner, recognizing the power of art from an early age.

As language barriers subsided, Lê still found himself faced with an acute awareness of societal interactions and how his identity played a role in the way he was perceived.

“The Catholic school I went to was predominantly white, so I was aware of my identity at a very young age. I mean, when everyone looks different from you—you notice,” says Lê. “I had made some other Asian friends, and I feel like we connected really well together because of that.”

During this time in his life, Lê’s hobby for art evolved into an outlet to process his feelings of being ‘othered’ as a Vietnamese immigrant in a predominantly white community. His art evoked a sense of power—freedom to express what has been suppressed—in an adamant reclamation of his identity.

Lê pursued a BFA in Fibers and Asian Studies Certificate at Kansas City Art Institute. Since graduating in 2021, Lê has drawn the attention of the local and national art scene, receiving multiple awards, including the Windgate-Lamar Fellowship, the Jesse-Howard Fellowship, and the Lead Bank Emerging Artist Award. Using fabrics, photographs, and found objects, his work covers the expanse of memories and history to define personal identity.

One facet of Lê’s work is his social commentary on societal gender norms, elaborat-

ed through his garment studies. Early experiences witnessing the transformative power clothing has on an individual’s self-perception piqued his interest in garment work.

“Growing up, I saw my mom and all my aunts dress up every weekend to attend church. That kind of transformation of working basically 12-hour shifts, or whatever it may be that day, in their basic necessity clothing—and seeing the transition of her putting on her best clothes for church and socializing with her friends—I saw what clothing can do for people,” says Lê.

Watching the women in his life undergo Cinderella-like transformations each week inspired Lê to explore expression in an authentic way.

“I wanted to get earrings, and my mom was so adamant that it is a feminine thing,” says Lê. Conservative views on gendered clothing items and accessories turned into a challenge of unraveling these expectations within himself.

Lê says, “Eventually, I got earrings, and we made a promise that I would only wear studs—so I didn’t.” This first step in exploring gender expression has turned into a regular artistic study, as well as a manner of living his daily life.

His first venture into garment making was for a final project at KCAI in 2020. The assignment was open-ended, allowing students to choose their artistic medium. “I really wanted to make a dress, and looking back, it’s horribly structured, but it was my first dress,” says Lê. “I started getting more interested in the cultural aspect of clothing, which led to exploring gender performance and what we associate as feminine and masculine clothing.”

The dress became his first iteration of the “Gender Implication on Garments” se-

ries, which continues to evolve with each annual installment. By documenting his work on film, Lê is able to add a performative element to his art that captures a stilllife, biographical documentation of his artistic career. The curated expression meticulously documents personal changes with annual additions to his portfolio.

Spending most of his life in the U.S., Lê often struggles to recall experiences from his childhood.

“It’s a weird limbo where I can’t tell if it was a dream or an actual memory, and there’s not really a way to validate it,” says Lê.

The series “Stitched Memories” uses storytelling to understand himself better and develop a method of navigating his family history. The collection of family photographs stitched with red thread focuses on building off of history as opposed to viewing it as stagnant.

“Actively making and remembering within a history that wants to erase its past is an act of defiance toward mainstream narratives,” says Lê.

Red, white, and blue are popular tones in Lê’s collection, representing American society while also paying homage to Vietnam. The captivating blue hue across his work is a product of an indigo dye, a practice found in Vietnamese fabric work for centuries. Though synthetic dyes have taken over a major portion of the modern dye process, the Indigofera plant from which the dye is derived is indigenous to Vietnam and continues to be a centerpiece of textile artisans in the country.

Bringing awareness to the subjectivity of historical accounts, his piece “Target

(Top) Hùng Lê poses for a profile shot. (Bottom) Hello Má and Hello Con fibers piece. (Right)” Gender Implications on Garments III.” Courtesy Hùng Lê

Practice” comments on the harrowing tragedies that ensued during the Vietnam war. The laser-engraved wood plank contains images captured during the war, showing the ruthless brutality of the U.S. military towards the people of Vietnam.

Personal memory—preserved through photographs and heirlooms—often starkly contrasts the collective and national memory found in modern education and other media sources. Skewed and vague curricula in the education system do not fully cover global events, utilizing cherry-picked accounts that erase significant portions of unfavorable national history.

Lê recalls the information gap he witnessed throughout his education in the United States, specifically about the

Vietnam War.

“Whenever I was in high school, and we were going through history books, you would get chapters and chapters of, like, George Washington,” he says. “We would spend weeks on end on these topics, but when it got to the American war in Vietnam, it’s like two pages before moving on. I think that piqued my interest in information and how it’s kept—I’m always looking at how memories are formulated.”

This power to control history and information flow is only increasing as measures in recent years have pushed toward censorship across public schools and libraries. History’s facts and narratives are in danger of being lost or misinterpreted as culture wars are waged globally in our digital misinformation era. Right now, it is equally as important to seek authenticity in facts and preserve the emotional hardships that have arisen in a time where creation is seen as an increasingly volatile and political act.

“The historical accounts I’ve been exposed to have been told from a very Americanized perspective—it often portrays Vietnamese people as having no agency or, like, being saved by America. I’m interested to see how the same stories are told from a Vietnamese perspective and what they choose to remember as a nation,” says Lê.

Lê uses his art as a space to process his memories of Vietnam and the adaptation

his family experienced through immigration, allowing him to approach the duality of his identity in a reliable physical form. Art is a tangible investment in his personal history, as well as a way to share the fragility of records and the human experience.

“My work requires that I constantly examine my position within American society while also questioning who gets to be the keeper of history and who is left behind and forgotten,” he says.

Lê’s work recently culminated in his first solo exhibition—Bảo Ơi,—last May at the Four Chapter Gallery in Kansas City. The show was titled after his Vietnamese name, Bảo, which only his close relatives use.

“There was a negotiation in my identity as my name was morphed a little bit,” says Lê. “I was thinking about the shift of identity in terms of a name change and how it relates to immigration on a macro and micro scale. The macro is the American war in Vietnam and how it shifted my family to immigrate to the United States, and the micro is essentially how that’s affected me.”

The show was an accumulation of three years of work unearthing his thoughts surrounding personal identity and reconnecting with lost versions of himself. The exhibition featured wall and hanging installations of his fiber work, photography, and writing. Lê’s artist talk at the opening reception served as a letter to all versions of himself,

expressing gratitude for his journey thus far. “Bảo Ơi is like a call to self,” Lê says, “The boy in Vietnam is this ghostly person that lingers around me. My exhibition was an investigation of that experience.”

Lê was recently awarded the prestigious Windgate-Lamar Fellowship from the Center for Crafts, which will fund a research trip to Vietnam for the first time since childhood. During the three-month trip, he will be traveling through the country—exploring the culture and reconnecting with his past experiences and memories. The trip will also include woodcarving classes in Hanoi and a workshop on the traditional indigo dye process in Cao Bằng.

“From February to April, I will be documenting my hometown, visiting various national museums and art galleries—-from Saigon all the way to Hanoi,” says Lê.

Above all, Lê is excited to reconnect with family and friends—especially his grandmother.

“I miss her a lot. There’s a photo of us at the airport, hugging each other and crying the day I left, and I’ve been using that image a lot to inspire my work,” he says. “All of it combined is nerve-wracking but also very exciting.”

You can follow Lê’s journey on Instagram @monsieur.ratty or his website at hunglestudio.com

DISCOVER

A WORLD OF ART without leaving Kansas City

FRE E ADM I S S ION nelson-atkins.org | 4525 Oak Street

e Bloch Collection

Like most genius ideas, MyCo Planet, an urban mushroom farm in North KC, emerged from a basement. Robin Moore’s basement, specifically. When Moore could not purchase the mushrooms she sought to cook and consume, she resorted to growing them on her own.

“I’ve always loved digging in the dirt, although I’m a rare breed—I love to clean, too,” says Moore.

Perhaps she embodies the antidote to the post-pandemic immune system. She

Team Spores

CLIMBING UP THE WALLS WITH MYCO PLANET’S VERTICAL VEGETABLES

By Grace Wilmot

Moore currently lives within the Kansas City limits, where she and her children garden indoors and outdoors. Coincidentally, her yard has a morel patch, which she insists she did not plant. Maybe there is a divine plan, after all… and maybe it’s directly tied to mycelium.

When Moore outgrew her basement grow space in January 2022, she moved into a warehouse in North KC. Upon entrance of the space, tape demarcates future walls for a storefront. Beyond the taped area, the ware-

walks past.

Most growth occurs in the black tents at the north end of the space. A string of blue LED lights illuminates the otherwise dark room, and fog billows and bends over bouquets of fruiting oysters. It’s almost reminiscent of a nightclub, except not at all— the air is clean and automated humidifiers regulate the moisture levels.

“We try to be conscious of the resources we are using,” Moore says. She giggles as she reveals that her walk-in refrigerator

lieves will become increasingly valuable, particularly within the context of climate change, for food production in urban spaces. She claims she produces about 500 pounds of mushrooms per week within 2600 square feet of grow space.

So what the hell is Moore doing with this fungal invasion?

You may have seen an ensemble of white, warm brown, and deep blue mushrooms at the City Market (and soon-to-be the Brookside Farmers’ Market). Moore also

delicately balances exposure and prevention—a parallel to the sterilization-inoculation dance of mushroom farming.

Moore’s academic background is in biology, paleontology, and geology. While her former lab experience primed her for the sterilization components of mushroom growing, her upbringing in northern Missouri primed her for digging through the dirt. She grew up foraging for mushrooms and growing fresh food, so she’s been inoculating herself for years. She admits that it took her some time to recognize that not everyone has been raised with the same grasp of sustainability.

house is clad with metal shelves stocked with plastic bags of inoculated substrate at different levels of growth.

Moore focuses on four strains: lion’s mane, blue oyster, chestnut oyster, and shiitake. Depending on the variety, the inoculated substrates require two to three weeks until they are ready to fruit. Some bags are polka dotted with white fungus, some are fully carpeted, and some are actively fruiting.

Jake Hilger, a recent UMKC graduate in environmental science who assists Moore with product management, mists a few clusters of blue oyster mushrooms as he

came from Joe’s Crab Shack.

Moore’s substrates are recycled, too. The sawdust soy hull blends are byproducts of sawdust milling and soybean farming. Following their catalyst of mushroom growth, the compost blocks are returned to urban and rural farmers throughout the area.

“Mushrooms require 3 gallons of water per pound, whereas something like corn requires 100 gallons of water per pound. They utilize the least amount of electricity and have the lowest carbon footprint of studied food crops,” Moore says.

Furthermore, Moore maximizes her space with vertical growth, which she be-

distributes to the Local Pig, Green Acres, and URBAVORE farm.

Many local restaurants utilize MyCo Planet’s products, including Voltaire, The Russell, Des Amis, and Room 39. Room 39 features a goat cheese gnocchi and a Filet Au Poivre with blue oyster mushrooms, which are in the highest demand amongst Moore’s restaurant clientele due to their mild flavor and versatility.

If you’re interested in something a little more… funky, Voltaire’s duck breast potato gnocchi pairs lion’s mane mushrooms with kale and tarragon pesto and smoked cherry compote. Lion’s mane

To ignore the potential of mushrooms would be to ignore nearly 800 years of adaptive wisdom.

isn’t just a high-protein, nutrient-dense food product—a wide body of medical literature documents its anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and antidepressant effects, as well as their positive impact on cognitive function.

A few bags of dehydrated lion’s mane powder rest on Moore’s desk. She takes a mushroom blend—which includes lion’s mane, amongst others—every day in the form of capsules and often as additions to coffee or tea.

rooms. The kits yield two harvests, translating to 2 pounds of fungi for her 10-pound mushroom grow kits and a half-pound of fungi for her 5-pound mushroom kits.

In the spirit of regeneration and rebirth of a new year, mushrooms grow on death and decay and even shit—and they’re anything but. They’ve absorbed oil spills and deteriorated plastics, and the latter have somehow remained edible. They’ve been used as reparations for horrific corporate ethics (cough Adidas cough). And if we’re

“I dove into mycology first, and then I quickly switched to mushroom cultivation, which is completely different. Someone could decide to grow mushrooms without any mycology experience, although they might not do it as well,” Moore says. “I sometimes wish I could return to mycology, but as of now, there’s not enough time in the day.”

She’s generous with her time, nonetheless. MyCo Planet’s website features blog posts about the medicinal properties of mushrooms, as well as cultivation techniques.

In conjunction with her blog content, Moore sells grow kits for blue oysters, black pearls, Italian oysters, and lion’s mane mush-

talking Psilocybin, they’ve been used to treat addiction.

To ignore the potential of mushrooms would be to ignore nearly 800 years of adaptive wisdom. There’s a fungus among us, and it will be here long after we’re gone.

(From left to right) Blue oysters, chestnut mushrooms, and substrate pellets.

(Above) The “nightclub.”

Photos by Grace Wilmot

A Taste of Nostalgia

EMILY KATE JOHNSON’S HOMAGE TO BAR CRAFT AND SOBRIETY

By Drew Windish

The Nostalgia Room is a lounge born from a woven community and family. A love letter to those with us, entranced in a homely atmosphere and conversation, and those we remember sitting idly in our countertop picture frames or loveseat mementos. Owner Emily Kate Johnson ties these themes together through years of industry experience and healed trauma.

Johnson found her passion for bartending at a very young age. She began waiting tables at 17 years old and found herself going out to drink with friends after her shifts. Johnson had gotten a taste for the industry way before she should’ve. But it was this introduction to serving and bar-hopping that eventually led to her love of making cocktails.

“Making drinks is a love language for me,” she says. “If you come

to my house, that’s how I show love. It’s how I host. I love standing at the bar and making people laugh, and holding space for them to cry. It’s just always been part of who I am.”

She faked her age to get into bars until the lie had become apparent. She came to accept that she wasn’t ready for these spaces. But by that time, Johnson had already grown up in bars. She wanted back in and waited till she was of age to rejoin from the other side of the ice well.

Grateful to re-enter the culture, finally bartending at 21, Johnson’s choice had come at a price that she had not anticipated. She continued her profession, drinking habitually, unable to break the pattern, surrounded by a society that reinforced her relationship with alcohol.

Years of abuse boiled to a point where she was confronted with giving up her passion for her health. “I think that everybody’s recovery story is incredibly unique and what works for them is also really unique,” says Johnson. “I was about to lose everything in my life. And I was like, ‘Okay, you’re either gonna die this way, or you’re gonna live.’ And I just made a choice.”

After a decade-long battle with alcohol, Johnson made the choice to quit drinking and to continue doing the work she loves by reassessing what it means to serve in the industry.

NOSTALGIA ROOM

512 E 9th St. (upstairs at Repetition Coffee) Lawrence, KS 66044 nostalgia-room.com Hours: Friday & Saturday, 5-10 p.m.

With two years of sobriety under her belt, Emily Kate Johnson opened the Nostalgia Room, a fully temperate bar and lounge handmade and tailored to any guest’s watering hole needs. Johnson brings an intentional assessment of care learned from her time in the service industry, as well as a modicum of moderation and reimagination gained from her newfound sober-minded clarity. The snug, congenial feel of the bar and its soulfully crafted menu stand as a testament to the artistry in mixology without the confines of its alcohol content.

The stunning menu of delicacies ranges from the sweet fragrances of chamomile calendula and lemon in the Corner Post cocktail to the savory finish of a green tea vermouth and plum vinegar wash mixed in

the Literal Interpretation.

Within each item lies the magic of shifting the focus from consumption to a bar’s natural tendency to glue a community together.

The bar is littered with family souvenirs, collected lovingly over time to share with its guests. One such piece is tucked to the side of the bar: a rose-vase painting standing in the corner of a room. The painting depicts a scene that Johnson grew up with—one of her grandfather Robert “Bob” Johnson’s regularly gifted red roses to his wife, Verla. “She stayed through the bad times, so she’s entitled to the good times,” Bob would say. He also struggled with alcohol addiction. With a new baby on the way, he was confronted with a decision. In 1961, Bob locked himself in a bathroom and emerged hours later, choosing to find his sobriety—a wake-up call similar to Emily Kate Johnson’s journey.

The bar sits in a cozy nook above Amy Pope’s Repetition Coffee and spills into the main room of the warehouse. It was friends like Pope and Tyler Lau who were able to empower Johnson through the bar’s concept and execution. After a decade in the making, Johnson was able to form her vision of owning the first fully temperate bar in Lawrence, Kansas.

Nostalgia Room is designed as a resort for the sober and sober-curious. Careful scrutiny is implemented with each concoction, dedicated to the absence of mind altering substances. This way, all guests are welcome to enjoy a night out without the anxiety or consequences of intoxicative ingredients. The omission of alcohol within a social-drinking atmosphere sanctifies the “Teetotaler” experience.

The term “Teetotaler” refers to temperance advocates who were Totally opposed to alcohol, with “a capital T.” Lasting effects of prohibition-era laws have left many Kansans with a bad taste, rebelling against the notion of sobriety like a defiant adolescent. Its quakes cause a rippling social divide between those who drink and those who don’t, even today.

The Nostalgia Room puts this philosophy into practice even beyond the lounge. Johnson actively promotes sober alternative accessibility by providing non-alcoholic alternatives for bars like Saltwell Farm Kitchen and Juniper Hill Farm and Table.

Johnson poses the question: what happens when a sober-empowered populace gets together? The result is intentionality that facilitates meaningful interaction and imbibing of thoughts, ideas, and drinks alike.

You can follow Emily Kate Johnson’s story on the bar’s Instagram (@nostalgia__room) for more updates on temperate experiences.

The Drunken Worm Nacho at The Drunken Worm

BY BROCK WILBUR

The Drunken Worm 1405 W 39th St. Kansas City, MO 64111 (816) 492-6066

Recently renovated to expand to quadruple its original size, the 39th street staple D.W. is no longer the dimly lit dive spot you might remember. The energy and personality flourish the same in its new arrangement, which cannibalizes the space originally occupied by MO Brew.

While a host of traditional Mexican dishes and playful, experimental new creations line the menu—which now includes a few American bar staples like a burger with its own spicy bend—it’s hard to recommend anything stronger for a first-timer than one of the bar’s noteworthy nacho plates. Or piles? More accurately, just a mountain of food.

The Drunken Worm Nacho ($15) as the signature dish takes the traditional chip and pepper jack cheese foundation and layers a cream cheese blend, black beans, a handful of jalapeños, and red onions. That cream blend at the top is brought to fabulous fruition with a drizzle of raspberry puree, giving it that pleasant pop. Steak or chicken is a great addition, but real ones will go for pork.

The portions on this are already more than enough for two or perfect to pick at for an entire afternoon alone while you drink in the atmosphere and shoot the shit with some of our favorite bartenders in the metro.

S’mores Latte at Lobby Market in Hotel Kansas City

BY SARAH SIPPLE

At a boutique hotel café, you should expect a boutique coffee experience. This is it.

The S’Mores Latte is a new fea ture at the Lobby Market inside Hotel Kansas City in the heart of down town. Amid the rich lobby decor is a small but welcoming café. Crafted by expert barista Laura Clark, the bal anced and fun latte features custom flavors, is best served hot, and works well with any milk option.

As the Messenger espresso is prepared and the milk is steamed, the mug or to-go cup is smoked with cherry wood chips. This is the start of a sensory experience beyond taste alone.

Next, the espresso and house-made Smoked Vanilla Syrup are poured into the smoked vessel. Mini marshmallows are heaped on top and set ablaze. The sweet toasted fragrance lingers and catches the attention of guests walking by.

Finally, to bring in the chocolate element of a s’more comes the Cocoa Noir drizzle. Cocoa Noir is another house-made syrup containing cocoa, black cocoa, and vanilla bean paste from KC’s Sava Trading Co.

The Lobby Market features a selection of pastries made by The Town Company’s Executive Pastry Chef, Helen Jo Leach. Also available at the market are exclusive J. Rieger & Co. bottled spirits.

Courtesy photo

Patrons and loved ones cherish the warm and tranquil atmosphere as owner Emily Kate Johnson prepares a temperate creation.

Courtesy Nostalgia Room

Mise en Place save the date!

BOI SERVES UP FUEGO SNACKS AND FAMILY ROOTS

By Kate Frick

Remember lunchroom currency? Sometimes it was a Pop-Tart, a stowaway mini-candy bar, or, if you were super lucky, a package of Gushers. With their bright colors, gooey center, and flavor mash-ups, Gushers were a hot commodity in the ‘90s. Fast forward to treat-yo-self adult snack time, and you have the intersection of sweet, spicy, salty Chamoy Boi candy. We caught up with Michael Ho, the founder and innovator of KC’s tangiest gummy treats, to ponder Zodiac signs and small business powerhouses in the Vietnamese community.

Are Gushers a nostalgic food for you?

Yes! It’s about the color and the burst of juice in your mouth when you bite that texture. Yeah, everybody loves it. It’s like going down memory lane. Gushers are high in vitamin C and fat free, so they’re healthy. I buy Chamoy [a condiment popular in Mexican cuisine usually made with fruit, lime, and dried chilies], cook it, and add Asian chili flakes and other spices.

What is your family’s heritage? My mom is half Polish and half Vietnamese. My dad is fully Vietnamese. People always wonder why I’m so damn tall (it’s that Polish quarter).

Is cooking a central theme in your family? We didn’t have that much Polish food growing up because my grandpa didn’t really know his background. He just came to America as an immigrant, and his culture was pretty much left behind. I always loved to cook. I was a chef before I did all this. I worked at a Japanese steakhouse for nine years, and my first job was in the bakery. I like seeing people’s joy when they eat, and think, “Oh, I did that!”

Do you remember the first time you tasted Chamoy? I was probably 10. I moved around a lot. At that time, I was in Houston, Texas. We lived in a Hispanic community, so l was adapting to those flavors and was like, “This is good. This is totally different.” They relate to some of the flavors and drinks we have in our culture, which is nice.

How did the concept of Chamoy Boi come about? I work in a nail salon. During

the pandemic, we were forced to shut down. I had to find a way to make money, so I thought, “What can I bring to KC that’s not well-known here yet?” People still have to eat during a pandemic, right? I was hanging in the backyard at my friend’s house, barbecuing, and I was like, “I should make some candy.” So I made a batch, my friends shared it on their social media, and then it just kind of blew up. But it wasn’t big until I met Jackie Nguyen of Cafe Cà Phê when she first came to Kansas City. I like to support other Vietnamese business owners. Once we got to know each other, she was like, “Why don’t you bring your stuff in here?” She has a strong crowd of supporters, and it’s fascinating how people come out here for us; she’s definitely a dragon in the zodiac. I really admire her motivation. I want to be just like her when I grow up.

If not candy, what else inspires you? My ultimate goal is to have a Tropicana-style store but expand with Asian snacks for the best fusion. I’d like a kick-back snack area to hang, and share my culture, and offer street food to open up people’s palates.

If you were to categorize your fusion, what would you call it? The thing I’m doing is a mix of Vietnamese, Mexican, Cambodian, and a little bit of Thai. I’ve taken one ingredient and put it in a different form. What I create is gonna be crazy. I have a lot of ideas. I’m just waiting to put it into action. I’m trying to make my own gummies as well. Down the road, I’ll come up with a recipe, which is even better because I’m going to bring exotic fruit flavors from Asia and Mexico, extract them, and turn them into my own gummy.

Mise En Place is a series of questions, answers, recommendations, and culinary wisdom from the food and drink masters that push KC flavor further.

The following answers have been edited for length and clarity.

CHAMOY

(Top) Chamoy Boi founder Michael Ho holds a stack of his product. Photo by Kate Frick (Bottom) Chamoy Gushers. Courtesy Chamoy Boi

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE, EVENTUALLY

By Nick Spacek

At the beginning of 2020, longtime Kansas City indie rockers Shiner released Schadenfreude, the band’s first new LP in nearly 20 years. At the same time, the band’s frontman, Allen Epley, was working on his first-ever solo album, Everything, which releases this month on Spartan Records. Given that the musician has been making music with Shiner, as well as The Life and Times, for nearly 30 years, it seems almost astonishing that it’s taken Epley this long to do a solo project, but here we are. The result is that songs collected on Everything bear the hallmarks of a project on which there was no rush.

“I didn’t have a purpose at first,” says Epley, speaking to us from his home in Evanston, Illinois. “It was like 2019, I started making some of my own drum tracks. I didn’t have songs, and I was putting down beats just to practice recording at home, with two mics on a kit, and then I came out and started kind of putting some things around it. It was a slow process.”

Amid the early pandemic, songs found stronger forms, and by the end of 2020, most of the album was completed. [The ‘23 release date mostly stems from vinyl production delays.] Those tracks, given time to grow from two mics and a drum kit, found their footing

thanks partly to the lack of consistency in Epley’s home tracking. In playing the tracks for friends, the musician decided his songs deserved the addition of other performers.

One of those other people turned out to be Dan Dixon from Dropsonic and PLS PLS, who is also a producer in Atlanta as well as an old friend of Epley. Along with Dixon, Epley brought in drummers whom he thought would play empathically, such as Mike Myers, who was in the first version of The Life and Times, among other notable KC acts such as In The Pines and The String and Return, Chris Prescott of Pinback, and Mike Burns on play lap steel.

“That was the difference maker,” Epley explains. “The better drum tracks fleshed it out. It was like, ‘Oh shit, it’s really, really good,’ instead of just being a quirky, pretty cool basement record. If it’s gonna be good, it’s gotta be good next to, say, an Angel Olsen song. That was what I was shooting for.”

Angel Olsen is a good point of reference for what Epley has done on Everything, alongside something like Kacey Musgraves’s Golden Hour or Beck’s Sea Change. It’s the kind of record that sounds like AM Gold classics from another dimension, replete with warm tones and melodies.

“That record, Sea Change, is super im-

portant to me,” Epley agrees. “I tried making something like that in the past, and it just didn’t translate. I have always been a huge fan, wondering if I could ever be a part of something like that.”

To make a solo record, Epley continues, seems so vain and silly and self-serving but also, he says, “It’s all me. I wrote all the shit, so it is what it is. I didn’t want to go into finding a new name.” He laughs while considering the folly of operating under a new moniker like “Octopus Heels.” In sincerity, the musician does acknowledge that the solo creative endeavor did manifest as a strange creative scenario.

“I’ve never been the total coordinator like that,” Epley continues. “I’ve always been the quarterback. There’s always everybody else on the team doing a lot. This was the first time I’ve been straight-up calling it.”

In terms of what shots were being called on Everything, Epley says that he’s a big country fan, running the channels when he’s driving between Kansas City and Chicago.

“I can hear new country stuff and tell the difference between a good song or pure Nashville trash,” Epley says of his highway listening habits. “That specific genre is highly produced now, somewhere between hip-hop,

R&B, and country with a bit of fiddle thrown in, and while, of course, that doesn’t make it pure country, I’m open to exploring all of it.”

Epley lists the artists he digs, like Dwight Yoakam, Brandi Carlile, Kacey Musgraves, Angel Olsen, and Margo Price—the new album is born of their vibes.

“I don’t wanna put on certain bands early in the morning,” Epley clarifies. “I wanted to make a record that sounded really good first thing in the morning, or late at night, or middle afternoon. One of those records that might reward a good mushroom trip, you know?”

Everything is an attempt to make an “outdoors” record, according to the artist. Songs that sound good illuminated by firelight in the woods and material like The Life and Times or Shiner didn’t fit that mood.

“I wanted to make a record that was just kind of chill and sad, and you could of discern what was happening,” Epley concludes. “I think a lot of the lyrics with my other bands are—sometimes I know what’s happening in them, but I’m not sure the narrative is clear to everybody—and this was an opportunity to just kinda write a record that I felt like I have had in me a long time.”

Allen Epley’s Everything is out January 6 from Spartan Records.

ALLEN EPLEY’S WARM SOLO DEBUT BELONGS BY THE CAMPFIRE

Jan. 10 -19

KC Restaurant Week 2023

Participating Area Restaurants

Okay, it’s ten days, but the extended “week” gives diners a few extra chances to support local restaurants & charities just by having a meal. Around 200 local restaurants offer special multi-course lunches and dinners, with 10% of each meal going to a local charity. Last year KCRW raised $115,000 for Guadalupe Centers, and the primary beneficiary this year is Cornerstones of Care. If you don’t want to head out, restaurant week deals are available for take-out, dine-in, and delivery. Pricing tiers range from $20 - $50.

JANUARY CALENDAR

By Thomas White

ONGOING

Jan 1 - 7

Fetch The Halls (Mean Girls Theme), Vignettes Pop-up Bar

Jan. 1- 31

Captured Exhibition, National WWI Museum and Memorial

Jan. 1- 31

Ice Skating, Crown Center Ice Terrace

Jan. 6 - 8

KC Symphony Presents: Uptown Nights, Helzberg Hall

Jan. 6 - 31

Picture Paradise: Blue & Green in Chinese Landscape Paintings, NelsonAtkins Museum

Jan. 10- 19

KC Restaurant Week, Varied Locations

Jan. 13 - 14

Myq Kaplan, The Comedy Club of Kansas City

Jan. 13 - 15

KC Symphony Presents: The Fountains & Pines of Rome, Helzberg Hall

Jan. 14 - 15

Monster Jam, T-Mobile Center

Jan. 17 - 22

Hadestown - The Musical, Music Hall

Jan. 20 - 22

KC Symphony Presents: Wagner’s Flying Dutchman, Helzberg Hall

Jan. 25 - 28

Black Panther Film + Live Orchestra, Helzberg Hall

Jan. 26 - 28

Carlos Mencia, The Comedy Club of Kansas City

Jan. 27 - 29

Shen Yun, Muriel Kauffman Theatre

Jan. 17 - 22

Hadestown

Music Hall

Nothing brightens a mid-winter mood like musical theater, and Hadestown warms up Music Hall for eight shows Jan. 17 - 22. The critically acclaimed and 8-time-Tony-Winning musical takes you through two reimagined & intertwined Greek myths all the way to Hades and back. Any one of the six evening shows or two weekend matinees will have you humming the catalog for weeks on end. Tickets are still available starting at $41.

EVENTS

Jan. 3

KC Mavericks vs. Allen Americans, Cable Dahmer Arena

Good Morning Midnight, Replay Lounge Honky Tonk Tuesday, The Ship Ball at the Hall, Liberty Hall

Woody’s Open Mic, Woody’s KC

Jan. 4

Brody Buster Duo, Night Hawk Nerdy Knitting, ReRoll Tavern

Jan. 5

Michael Palascak, The Comedy Club of Kansas City

Ken Lovern’s OJT, Green Lady Lounge Rule the Stage - Season 2, Hamburger Mary’s

Meet the Author: Kim Malaj, Afterword Tavern & Shelves

Open Mic, The Bird Comedy Theater

Jan. 6

Chris Hazelton’s Boogaloo 7, The Ship

Corey Holcomb, The Improv KC

Travis Martin, PBR Big Sky Needle in a Gay Stack, Kansas City Center for Inclusion

Jan. 7

Pretty Yende, Soprano, The Folly Theater The MGD’s, recordBar Elvis Birthday Bash, Knuckleheads

KC Comets vs. Tacoma Stars, Cable Dahmer Arena

Penguin March, Kansas City Zoo

Jan. 8

Jackie Myers Piano Trio, Black Dolphin Dan Jones and the Squids, Tick Check, Replay Lounge

Bad Music Sunday, Woody’s KC

Jan. 9

Brian Baggett Trio, Green Lady Lounge Jayson Kayne, Jerry’s Bait Shop

Jan. 10

Early Eyes, recordBar

The Big Lebowski, Screenland Armour Honky Tonk Tuesday, The Ship

Jan. 11

Alex Williams, Knuckleheads

Flash Gordon, Screenland Armour

Jan. 12

Guitar Elation, Green Lady Lounge

Jan. 13

Grand Marquis, The Ship

Tim Whitmer Quartet, Black Dolphin

KC Mavericks vs. Iowa Heartlanders, Cable Dahmer Arena

Jan. 21

Radkey

The Bottleneck

We aren’t telling you anything new. Radkey rules; we know this. You couldn’t have missed the punk-rock brothers from St. Joe after their yearly Christmas shows, after touring with The Foo Fighters, and the barrels of The Pitch’s ink. But if you haven’t seen them live in a minute or—gasping pearl clutch—at all, it’s time to take a trip down K-10 to The Bottleneck to see our favorite local misfits. Tickets start at $12, doors at 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m.

Jan. 25

Monet X Change

The Improv KC

Veteran of RuPaul’s Drag Race and renowned maker of sponge dresses Monet X Change comes to The Improv KC for a one-night special engagement. Known primarily for her comedy, a Monet X Change show can include singing, dancing, lip-syncing, and/or socio-political commentary. The double crown Drag Race winner takes the stage for a Wednesday evening show that’s sure to cheer up your midweek. Tickets start at $74 a pair or $148 for four. The show kicks off at 7:30 p.m., with early arrival encouraged.

Jan. 14

The Emo Night Tour, The Truman PetRock, recordBar

Adam Larson Organ Trio, Black Dolphin Drag Queen Bingo, Hamburger Mary’s That’s No Movie’s Improvised Film Fest, The Bird Comedy Theater

Jan. 15

Coraline 4K, Screenland Armour Dawson Jones Organ Trio, Black Dolphin Zack Mufasa, O’Dowd’s Gastrobar Black & White Group Photoshoot, Redux Society

Jan. 16

KC Mavericks vs. Rapid City Rush, Cable Dahmer Arena

Jan. 17

Mavi, The Bottleneck

King Pari, Minibar

Reggie Pearl, Pisha, INDRA, Mic the Mains, Replay Lounge

The Bird Comedy Show, The Bird Comedy Theater

Jan. 18

Casey Donahew, Knuckleheads

Jan. 19

Good Morning Bedlam, Timbers, Minibar

Tone Bell, The Comedy Club of Kansas City

Jan. 20

Miguel Zenon Quartet, The Folly Theater

Jeremiah Johnson Band, Knuckleheads

PICKLE, Mosaic

7th Annual The Band That Fell To Earth

KC David Bowie Tribute, recordBar

Jan. 21

Radkey, The Bottleneck

C minus Music Showcase, The Kansas City Museum

The Zeros, Knuckleheads

All-Requests Evening with Ryan McCall, The Black Box KC

KC Comets vs. Milwaukee Wave, Cable Dahmer Arena

Jan. 22

The Artist El Jay, recordBar

KC Mavericks vs. Allen Americans, Cable Dahmer Arena

Jan. 23

Heart of Gold, The Wildfires Projekt, Rookie of the Year, recordBar

Jan. 24

National Geographic Live: A Voice for Nature Jasper Doest, Muriel Kauffman Theatre

Larkin Poe, Knuckleheads

Jan. 25

Monet X Change, The Improv KC Catbamboo, Supermoto, Sour Apple Surgery, Minibar

Jan. 26

Jillian Riscoe, Emma Jo, Kamber, The Rino

Jan. 27

Dan Cummins, Uptown Theater

Angel Olsen & The Big Time Band, Liberty Hall

This is What Dreams are Made of: Disney & 2000’s Dance Party, The Truman

Jan. 28

Making Movies [live album recording], The Folly Theater

Nick Swardson, Uptown Theater

Four Fried Chickens & A Coke, Knuckleheads

Meso, Encore at Uptown Theater

Queer Youth Ball, The Black Box Eddie B, The Midland

Jan. 29

KC Symphony Presents: Philharmonia Fantastique, Helzberg Hall

Jan. 30

Ghost in the Shell, Screenland Armour

Jan. 31

John R. Miller, recordBar

The Lone Bellow, Knuckleheads

I rehearsed what I would say to my new OB/GyN all morning. “I’m not leaving here without a care plan” was the mantra I repeated in my head. When it came time to speak to the doctor about my symptoms and timeline, I’m sure I was a bit intense.

What came next surprised me—my doctor listened. I was given options, my questions were answered, and by the end of the appointment, I was beginning the process of scheduling a laparoscopic hysterectomy. I fully intended on having to prove I was worthy after all these years of suffering—but I didn’t have to. I sat in the car and had a good cry before my drive home. I felt so relieved.

For years, having had abnormal cycle lengths, painful periods, painful sex, lower back pain, and pain shooting down my leg that dropped me to the floor sometimes—I questioned what was different this time.

Was it my age? Was it the number of symptoms? Was it the right doctor at the right time in geopolitics?

you sure?”

Friends and clients have lamented about finding a doctor that would do more than order another ultrasound or offer more than a “wait and see” approach. Many women under 40 without kids claim to face more objections from doctors over surgical options than those older and who have chil-

dren.

Seekers of surgical sterilization—tubal ligation or hysterectomy—are also typically asked what their partners have to say, regardless of relationship type or status. After reading an analysis of the National Survey of Family Growth’s 2015-2019 data by Danvers & Evans, it’s understood that surgeons screen their patients for potential regret and use age as a primary factor. The survey found that after accounting for considerations like education, the reason for the surgery, race, number of children, and age—only age has a “statistically significant association” with regret, especially if the patient was under 30 at the time of surgery. So, if you’re relatively young and seeking surgery, your doctor is most certainly going to ask you questions to make sure you’re sure.

There are plenty of reasons to consider the removal of reproductive organs that aren’t about birth control. Chronic pain can bring people to the point where they just don’t care about having children. They just want the pain to stop.

participate in any sexual activity, solo or partnered. Still, it should because the insertion of something into our vaginas is not our only route to pleasure.

Laura McKaig, a pelvic floor therapist based in Olathe has plenty of advice for re-

Without a doubt, people are making reproductive health decisions based on the actions of their state legislatures. Fifty-eight percent of people capable of giving birth now live in a state that has severe restrictions on abortion access, according to the Guttmacher Institute. It will be a few years before we have data on how Dobbs affects people’s decisions for surgical sterilizations in states with abortion restrictions.

When periods are normal, the endometrium that builds up inside the uterus is shed when no fertilized egg is implanted after ovulation. When endometriosis is present, that lining is outside the uterus in the gut, often on other organs. Endometriosis affects 2-10% of women, according to Johns Hopkins. It cannot be fully diagnosed without exploratory surgery, and the only treatment is surgical.

A lesser-known condition is adenomyosis, where the endometrial tissue is inside the muscles of the uterine wall. Imagine the sharpest, most uncomfortable splinter you’ve ever had. Imagine it’s there permanently, and it hurts pretty much daily, but once a month, you feel like you’re being ripped open from the inside (more than normal) as the splinter wiggles around. Your only option is to cut off your thumb to remove the splinter.

Then there are fibroids, polycystic ovarian syndrome, and chronic pelvic inflammatory disease that could be the culprit of chronic pain— all of which can be debilitating.

What happens next “down there”?

Searching the internet for answers is fucking scary sometimes. Thankfully a friend recommended joining Hysterectomy Sisters. This Facebook group is an online community committed to giving factual, timely answers to its 36,000 members. Asking tens of thousands of women how to resolve constipation while on pain meds or how long before you were ready for sex again is bound to get you an answer faster than if you call the nurse line. It’s also a place to post about their thoughts and fears without judgment.

Allow your pelvic floor time to heal. Orgasm creates tension, pulling, and movement around incisions; therefore, you’ve gotta lay off all stimulation until you’re healed. Your post-surgical instructions only address not putting anything inside your vagina. It doesn’t say that we should not

covery. While many people might think that surgery is the final step in their care plan, McKaig says pelvic floor therapy is necessary after procedures like this.

“Often the instructions ‘listen to your body’ just aren’t enough to know how to get back to the activities you love. That includes your sex life. Sometimes sex can feel weird or different after a hysterectomy. Pelvic [floor therapy] can help your pelvic floor muscles and core regain the movement and strength needed to recover well and enjoy sex again,” says McKaig.

You should visit a pelvic floor therapist if you have any pain remaining after eight weeks post-op (this goes for guys that have had vasectomies, too), if sex feels noticeably different or painful, if you’re holding your breath while lifting an object, if you feel heaviness or dullness in your pelvis or lower back, or if you feel like your genitals have “checked out” from the rest of your body.

You’ll likely need hormone replacement therapy (HRT) if both ovaries are removed. Taking hormones is also a big decision that has both positives and risks. Estrogen is a key chemical in our bodies that affects our skin, bones, heart, and brain. Side effects of surgical menopause include vaginal dryness and hot flashes. HRT is the only way to treat those.

Jill Chadwick, Director of Media Relations with The University of Kansas Health System, says the decision for treatment is a deeply personal one that should be made between a patient and their doctor.

No matter what is happening in our society, you deserve facts about your health. You deserve solutions to your pain. You deserve to be treated like a grown adult who can make informed decisions. Openly discuss your symptoms with your doctor. Be your own advocate for your health. It’s okay to go to a different physician if you don’t feel heard.

You can find Kristen @OpenTheDoorsKC on Twitter or openthedoorscoaching com. Check out her podcast Keep Them Coming.

“Are

Photo by Nicole Bissey.

Illustrations by Shelby Phelps

Is surgical sterilization right for you?

you deserve to be treated like a grown adult who can make informed decisions.

Solve for Stuck

By Britt Frank

CHANGING THE NARRATIVE

Psst… hey… you with the resolution to do things differently this year—how’s that going? If you’re like most people, by now you’ll have likely either dropped your New Year’s resolutions altogether or be totally fried by your efforts to stick to them.

We all get seduced by the siren song of “New Year, New You!” (Sidenote: Anyone who says this is likely selling something). No shame if you’ve ever tried (and failed) to keep New Year’s resolutions. It’s totally normal to hit January feeling flooded with the desire to make major changes. Wanting to develop healthier habits and to be better humans is admirable, but without accurate information, not only will you end up getting stuck—you’ll then blame yourself for your state of stuckness, which inevitably leads to more of the bad habits you set out to change in the first place.

There’s a reason more than 80% of New Year’s resolutions are toast by Valentine’s Day—and it has nothing to do with laziness or lack of motivation.

Why is it the same story year after

year?

Since you’re reading this article, you likely fall into the category of people for whom the following cycle applies:

Q1: Jan. - March: You feel like crap from months of suboptimal choices, so you resolve to change everything about everything When that doesn’t work, you say screw it. Plus, St. Patrick’s Day and March Madness are super fun. Who wants to meal-prep and be in the gym at 5 a.m. when you can have green beer and sports ball snacks?

Q2: April - June: Uh oh. Summer’s coming. The diet industry’s marketing machine tells you to hurry up and get your body ready because something terrible will happen if you don’t. Suddenly, you have renewed vigor to revisit those long-abandoned resolutions. Once again, you hustle to change everything about everything.

Q3: July - Sept.: It doesn’t take long for you to realize that the diet industry is utter BS and that all bodies are “beach bodies.” Plus, it’s summer. Who wants to focus on breaking unhealthy habits when it’s so nice out?

Q4: Oct. - Dec.: Holiday season. Cue scary music. Did you know that the holiday season is to therapists what tax season is to accountants? One of the major contributors to holiday depression is expecting your family to act in a way that in no way matches the reality of how they’re likely to act. By mid-November, you’re likely short on time, short on cash, racing around your life forgetting all those boundary-setting skills you learned about on TikTok, staying up too late, and telling yourself, “It’s fine. I’ll fix this all in January.” The New Year’s Eve rolls up with its glittery promises of new beginnings, and the cycle repeats.

Nothing good happens in January for people who spent February through December. locked in the aforementioned cycle. This isn’t because you’re lazy. This isn’t because you lack willpower. New Year’s resolutions fail because by January, you’re

reasonably exhausted. The energy required for the change process is obliterated by the demands of the holiday season. You would never expect your car to make a cross-country journey on a quarter tank of gas, yet we set this expectation for ourselves year after year. The cycle basically boils down to this: Resolve. Relapse. Regret. Repeat.

So, what’s the solution?

Here’s a wild notion: What if you made your New Year’s resolutions in April? The first quarter of the year is best spent resting, recharging, and taking inventory of what went right (and what went wrong) the year before. In our efforts to become “new” people, we skip out on the most important part of the change process—identifying why we participated in the things we resolved to change in the first place. Understanding the function of a behavior is necessary to change a behavior.

If you take time in January, February, and March to focus on self-care, to slow down, to evaluate and thoughtfully consider who you are and what you want, it is much more likely that by the time the snow thaws you’ll have both the insight and the energy to achieve your goals. April is the ideal time to make New Year’s resolutions.

All that said, if you insist on making your resolutions now, here are a few tips:

• Instead of focusing your resolutions on eliminating behaviors (“I resolve to stop drinking bleach”), focus on additive behaviors (“I resolve to start talking to other humans”). Research shows additive resolutions are more likely to stick.

• Refuse the temptation to lie to yourself. Are you really going to get up at 5 a.m. in the dead of winter to train for a half marathon? A fun-sized goal that you know you can achieve always surpasses a mega-goal that you’ll inevitably ignore.

• Make a list of people/places/things that can help you stick to your plan. Pick one.

• Don’t wait until you feel motivated. You’re not going to “feel like it.” Do it anyway.

• Make your resolutions based on what

you actually want to do/be/have—not on what you think you “should” want to do/ be/have.

• We often focus so intensely on what’s going wrong that we forget to notice what we’re doing right. Failure to celebrate your small wins makes it unlikely you’ll hit the bigger ones.

Regardless of when you attempt to set and keep your resolutions, remind yourself (at frequent intervals) that making a good decision takes time to produce a good feeling. Anytime your brain is used to a pattern, changing it will kick off a nasty withdrawal process. Withdrawal is the unpleasant but necessary stage between “Yay, I made a good decision” and “Yay, look at my shiny new behavior.” It’s hard to make it through withdrawal when your tank is empty. Once again, I stand by my recommendation to make resolutions in April, when the withdrawal process can be supported by nicer weather and later sunsets.

Whichever path you choose, remember this:

• “Lazy” is a moral judgment, not a biological reality. You are not lazy.

• “Crazy” is a word people use to describe behaviors they don’t understand. There is no such thing as a “crazy” person. You are not crazy.

• The human brain is always motivated. It’s either motivated to do what you want it to do or it’s motivated to conserve energy and survive threats. You are not unmotivated.

Happy New Year.

Follow along with Psychotherapist and author of The Science of Stuck Britt Frank [MSW, LSCSW, SEP] on Instagram (@brittfrank). To ask a question about recovering from the last few years, or anything else regarding mental health, reach out to britt@thepitchkc.com

Disclaimer: This article is for entertainment purposes only and is not to be taken as official mental health treatment or professional medical advice.

KC Cares

Kansas City Young Audiences

By Beth Lipoff

Whether it’s a 25-person workshop with a spoken-word poet or a West African dance troupe performance for 250 people, Kansas City young Audiences is determined to bring arts to the children of the Kansas City area.

“It was just really born out of someone who felt like students ought to have access to some of these great artistic experiences that others have around the city,” says Kansas City Young Audiences Executive Director Martin English.

Roughly 60% of their programming takes place in locations around the metro, and a good chunk of that is in schools and libraries. The rest happens in their building at 3732 Main St.

It’s not just a matter of being a passive audience member—KCYA wants to get the kids involved and be creative.

Every day, its Midtown building is alive with dance classes, garage band rehears-

terns via dance and other movements.

“We hear all the time that students can learn basic concepts better when they’re engaged, and they’re having fun, and they’re doing something artistic,” English says. “It makes that science material or those math concepts stickier—easier for kids to remember. What’s the difference between a cyclone and a hurricane or a cumulus cloud and a cirrus cloud? If that student has danced it or moved it and become those things, they learn it better. It sticks with them more.”

English says they’re bringing multiple perspectives into play.

“We totally believe in the arts for art’s sake, but we also believe in arts integration where the arts are being integrated into the regular school curriculum,” he says.

als, and more. A group of kids is preparing to perform Grunge Macbeth in partnership with the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival.

Paula Console-Soican sees her children Leo, age 9, and Sylvia, age 10, interact with programs like these and loves the result.

“It’s hard to know what [arts] they may be good at if they don’t try them. I never thought Leo would like drawing so much or painting, but he does. It’s really through some of the classes that he did at KCYA that we can now encourage Leo to play not only soccer but also to draw or create art on a piece of paper,” she says.

The warm environment attracted her to KCYA.

“I wanted something casual but professional at the same time. I like the comfortable atmosphere and friendly faces,” Console-Soican says.

When KCYA goes to a school, the workshops and performances are carefully coordinated to fit into and enhance the curriculum. One such program they do is called “Weather on the Move,” and helps fourth-graders learn about weather pat-

Supporters such as the Missouri Arts Council, the Hall Family Foundation, and the H&R Block Foundation donate funds that allow KCYA to offer its programs to Title I schools with steep discounts. Donations also let KCYA offer scholarships for individual students taking classes who might be unable to afford tuition.

Their programming goes all over the metro and beyond—from Shawnee Mission to Liberty, and as far as Columbia or Lawrence.

“We believe every child deserves that transformational spark that the arts ignite, regardless of who they are, what they look like, where they are, what their economic means are,” English says.

Before the pandemic, English says they were reaching more than 100,000 students each year. They’ve managed to get back to about 61,000 as of 2021, and they’re working towards their previous levels of engagement.

English loves to hear when they’ve connected with a previously unengaged student.

“Once a month, we hear from a teacher after a workshop [who says], ‘That kid that’s up there on stage—that kid hasn’t said one word this whole semester.’ That’s the big hook for us,” English says. “A parent will say, ‘My daughter has been an introvert, has never been a person who is out front or wanted to be in the spotlight, and she wanted to audition for your musical theater sum-

mer show… and it’s made her blossom.’”

They also partner with other arts organizations in town, such as the Kansas City Symphony or the Coterie Theatre, to provide programs on a district-wide level. Through the Kennedy Center’s Partners in Education program, KCYA also offers professional development opportunities to teachers who want to weave arts into their teaching methods.

Looking to the future, KCYA is increasing its presence in after-school programs,

working with programs such as the Local Investment Commission.

You don’t have to be an arts professional to help KCYA be successful, though. English says they always need volunteers for their summer camps, performances, clerical work, and helping to keep the organization strong.

KCyA teaching artists help students learn how to keep rhythm and think on their feet. Courtesy KCYA

“We totally believe in the arts for art’s sake, but we also believe in arts integration...”