The Magazine of the University of Central Florida
THE ARTS ISSUE | SUMMER 2017
WHAT IS CREATIVITY?
BLANK CANVAS Where do inspiration and creativity lead you? For UCF students, it might be a stage, a music hall, an art studio or even a research lab. No matter where they are, Knights are challenged to create work that makes an impact.
Inbox
PEGASUS
I LIKE YOUR ARTICLES AND APPRECIATE THE updates. I am, however, offended by President Hitt’s comments about owing his degree to his dad and totally disrespecting his mother, whom he stated helped him get his degree (“Why I Give a Damn,” Spring 2017). My dad didn’t support college, especially for females in 1978. I went to Central Carolina Community College for a year, and when I could no longer afford school, I got married. As a 25-year-old divorcée with three young children, I worked and put myself through nursing school at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I graduated and joined the U.S. Air Force in 1992. After retiring, I stayed home to care for my grandchildren so that my daughter could go to nursing school — and supported my son at Eastern Florida State College and my youngest son at UCF. Other than Bright Futures and a $175 bowling scholarship, my sons never received grants or scholarships. I worked hard and made sacrifices to get my degrees and achieve a successful career while caring for my family. I am the parent who set the example and pushed college. I am the one who helped fill out forms, made phone calls and established rapport with various people at UCF. President Hitt, your dad may have inspired you, but you said your dad died when you were 15 and your mother helped you get into college. Why not acknowledge her? This is a very sensitive subject to me, one that is near and dear to my heart.
ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT FOR MARKETING Patrick Burt ’08
VICE PRESIDENT FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING Grant J. Heston ’13
VO LU M E 2 3 • I S S U E 3 • S U M M E R 2 0 1 7
» ANGELA RIGGS GONZALEZ
DEAR ANGELA, I regret that my column in Pegasus magazine bothered you. This particular column was about the dream a father had for his son. It was never meant to diminish my mother’s important role. My mother and father were instrumental figures in my life. In fact, long ago I established the Mary G. Hitt Memorial Endowed Scholarship for UCF students in my mother’s name. Both of my parents believed in the power of higher education. From your email, I can tell that you do, too. I congratulate you on putting yourself through nursing school, and for seeing that your daughter and sons also went to college. I hope your youngest son found his time at UCF to be educational and rewarding. Thank you for reading my column, and thank you for the passion for higher education that you showed in your email.
MANAGING EDITOR Laura J. Cole EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Eric Michael ’96 CREATIVE DIRECTOR Ron Boucher ’92 ART DIRECTORS Lauren Haar ’06 Steve Webb
I WOULD LIKE TO COMPLIMENT DR. HITT on his article “Why I Give a Damn.” It was an inspiring and motivating article. My background is a little bit different than his. My dad had a master’s degree in education and was the principal of the high school I attended. My mother was a teacher. I absolutely love learning. With two undergraduate degrees and an MBA, I have my sights set on law school. Many thanks for Pegasus magazine . . . keep up the good work. Go Knights!
» JACK WEBB ’14
MY WIFE AND I ARE BOTH GRADUATES OF UCF but felt like we lost touch with the campus after relocating to Atlanta in 1999. Pegasus magazine reconnected us, and we both enjoy reading it. We now feel closer to the campus than we have in a long time. Our kids are starting to look at colleges, and we share Pegasus with them to help connect them to the possibilities.
» TIM ’99MBA AND GABRIELA (VALENCIANO) RADER ’91
TWENTY-FOUR YEARS AGO, I MADE THE DECISION to transfer to UCF. That decision remains the best decision of my life. I eagerly await each issue of Pegasus magazine to help keep me connected. The article about Richard Lapchick (“The Calm Persistence of Richard Lapchick,” Spring 2017) filled me with inspiration and pride. What a pioneer! I am so proud that he is a member of the UCF community and of the work he is doing — it continues to be incredibly important. Thank you for sharing his story with the UCF community.
» CLARICE (SWARTZENTRUBER) EVANS ’96
DESIGNERS Mario Carrillo Adam Smajstrla ’11 COPY EDITOR Peg Martin PHOTOGRAPHERS Nick Leyva ’15 Austin Warren Bernard Wilchusky PRODUCTION MANAGER Sandy Pouliot ONLINE PRODUCER Roger Wolf ’07 WEB PROGRAMMERS Jim Barnes Keegan Berry ’12 RJ Bruneel ’97 Jo Dickson ’11 CONTRIBUTORS Bree Adamson ’04 Christopher Bobo ’17 Nicole Dudenhoefer Heather Gibson Olaf Hajek Maureen Harmon Nathan Holic ’02 Gene Kruckemyer ’73 Angie Lewis ’03 Kagan McLeod Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz Susan Watkins PEGASUS ADVISORY BOARD Barb Abney ’03 Chad Binette ’06 Anne Botteri Richard Brunson ’84 Cristina Calvet-Harrold ’01 John Gill ’86 Michael Griffin ’84 Mike Hinn ’92 Gerald McGratty Jr. ’71 Michael O’Shaughnessy ’81 Dan Ward ’92
Cordially yours, JOHN C. HITT
Pegasus is published by UCF Marketing in partnership with the UCF Foundation, Inc. and UCF Alumni. Opinions expressed in Pegasus are not necessarily those shared by the University of Central Florida.
Pegasus won its first national ADDY Award for the overall design of the Summer 2016 Space Issue.
Email:
pegasus@ucf.edu
Mail: UCF Marketing P.O. Box 160090 Orlando, FL 32816-0090
©2017 University of Central Florida. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Pegasus is a registered trademark of UCF Alumni.
INBOX SUBMISSIONS Emails to the editor should be sent with the writer’s name, graduation year, address and daytime phone number to pegasus@ucf.edu. Letters may be edited for length and clarity, and may be published in any medium. Due to volume, we regret that we cannot reply to every letter.
MOVED RECENTLY? NEED TO UPDATE YOUR INFO?
Phone: 407.882.1238 Cert no. SW-COC-002556
Update your contact information:
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SUMMER 2017
Contents 6 In Focus 11 Turning Points 12 On Campus 14 Briefs 16 The Feed 17 By Design 18 On Beat 20 The Start of Something Big 22 In a Flash 24 Hotbed 29 What Is Creativity? 32 Your Brain on Music 34 V for Venditti 38 AlumKnights 46 Why I Reign
BROAD STROKES Located in the John C. Hitt Library, Mapping the Florida Terrain was painted by UCF professor Walter Gaudnek in 1989. The library, like many other places on campus, showcases art to capture the creative and innovative spirit of the UCF community. “Public art enhances the campus experience and is more than decoration,” says Kevin Haran, director of the UCF Public Arts Committee. “It engages the mind and the sense of sight, touch and even sound.” To learn more about public art pieces on campus, visit ucf.edu/pegasus.
CENTER STAGE UCF Celebrates the Arts held its third annual weeklong showcase in April, allowing students to take their creative work from the classroom to center stage at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. From video games and interactive multimedia exhibits created by visual arts students to makeup demonstrations and musical performances by performing arts students, the event highlighted a variety of artistic expressions. Students also performed the spring musical, Oklahoma!, at the venue’s 2,700-seat theater, a first for UCF.
“I was so nervous because I know the pressure and the responsibility that comes with a part of this magnitude and a venue of that size, but after working on it I felt ready to take the stage.” — Madeline Regier, sophomore who played Laurey Williams in Oklahoma!
To view more photos and watch a video about the production of Oklahoma!, visit ucf.edu/pegasus.
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In Focus
JAZZED UP In March, UCF presented its ninth annual UCF-Orlando Jazz Festival. The event provides a platform for students and serves the community by bringing diverse, world-renowned jazz performers — from 88-year-old Benny Golson to 22-year-old Veronica Swift — to Central Florida. This year’s festival included performances from guitarist Peter Bernstein, trumpeter Leroy Jones, The Jazz Professors, the Flying Horse Big Band and five Florida high school jazz bands.
“UCF is the only performing arts school in the world that has both a 24/7 NPR jazz station [89.9 FM] and a record label. In our first year, the jazz festival was broadcast on PRI International all over the world.” — Jeff Rupert, Pegasus Professor and director of jazz studies
To watch a video and learn more about the UCF-Orlando Jazz Festival, visit ucf.edu/pegasus.
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In Focus REMEMBERING PULSE In June, UCF paid tribute to the 49 victims of the Pulse attack through a blood drive, an art exhibition and a remembrance ceremony. Pulse owner Barbara Poma ’90 spoke at the opening reception for Resilience: Remembering Pulse at the UCF Art Gallery. During the memorial ceremony “UCF Remembers,” President John C. Hitt and others emphasized the need for inclusion and equality both on and beyond campus. The events concluded with Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith ’03 introducing a new mural, located on the Student Union, that memorializes Juan Ramon Guerrero and Christopher Andrew “Drew” Leinonen ’07 ’09MA, two Knights killed on June 12, 2016.
“UCF stands with our LGBTQ+ students, faculty, staff and alumni, and I am proud that UCF is a place where love, respect and inclusion guide all that we do.” — President John C. Hitt
19,000 80
People who tuned in to the livestream on Facebook
Pieces of art honoring the Pulse victims displayed at the UCF Art Gallery
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White roses placed in vases as each name was read
Members of the Orlando Gay Chorus who sang during the “UCF Remembers” ceremony
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Handprints of friends and family of Juan and Drew placed on the mural
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Artists who painted the mural, Michael Pilato and Yuriy Karabash
To watch a video and learn more about the Pulse mural, visit ucf.edu/pegasus.
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GROUNDBREAKING INNOVATION On May 11, Central Florida leaders and children from the Parramore community broke ground on the new UCF Downtown campus. The 148,000-square-foot Dr. Phillips Academic Commons will be the center of campus, which is a unique partnership between UCF and Valencia College that will serve 7,700 students from both schools when it opens in 2019.
“This is the next evolution of this site that will solidify Orlando as a nationally recognized educational leader. I think this campus will be a model for other cities and other communities.” — Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer
To watch a video and learn more about the UCF Downtown campus, visit ucf.edu/pegasus.
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2016–17 SEASON STATS
WINNING RECORD UCF recorded its best season since 2004–05.
BY ERIC MICHAEL ’96
Looking back on a turnaround season that culminated with a landmark postseason run, UCF men’s basketball head coach Johnny Dawkins recalls five defining moments.
1 CHALLENGING CHAMPIONS IN CHARLESTON “One of the highlights from our season was playing for the championship at the Charleston Classic, beating Mississippi State and competing against the defending national champions, Villanova. It showed us what was possible. You can prepare with a positive mindset and everything, but I think you have to have results for the team to understand that you can do it. Although we did not win the championship versus Villanova, I think the way we competed against them gave our student-athletes a sense of belief that we could accomplish some really good things this year.”
BOUNCING BACK FROM ADVERSITY
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“We started with a successful preseason followed by a really good start to conference play. Then we hit a stumbling block, losing four games in a row — a number of them close games on the road. The bottom line is that losing four games in a row is tough for any team. Most teams I’ve coached and played on, if they had gone down that deep, they may have never recovered. [The turnaround] showed me something about our team — resilience.”
POSTSEASON
3 TEAM LEADERS STEPPING UP “I really give my players a lot of credit for having the maturity to not give in to disappointing losses. We made one of the biggest adjustments in changing our starting lineup when Tank Efianayi got injured. We went with Nick Banyard, who gave us a huge boost down the stretch. He played his best basketball when it counted the most — after that fourth loss in a row. He shot a crazy percentage to right the ship for us. B.J. Taylor was a clutch force in our turnaround and made big shots for us throughout that last stretch of the season. Matt Williams gave us good leadership all year long through his actions. He was always the first on the court and the last to leave the gym, leading by example. He was so confident, and his shot was a weapon for us. And through the last five or six games of the season, I thought A.J. Davis was really big for us. During the run in the NIT [National Invitation Tournament], he really found his niche within what we do as a team.”
UCF made its first NIT semifinal finish and second tournament appearance.
HOT HAND Matt Williams hit 11 3-pointers versus USF January 17. He also led the team in season scoring with 542 points.
DEFENSIVE FORCE Tacko Fall was named AAC defensive player of the year and led the Knights with 343 rebounds.
4 PROGRESSING TO THE POSTSEASON “Going to the postseason and winning a game in the American Athletic Conference tournament, as well as competing with the final four teams at the NIT in New York was a big highlight. It all started with that turnaround after the four-game losing streak when we asked, ‘Are we going to give in to what’s happened these last four games, or are we going to change our destiny?’ Our guys changed their destiny.”
5 RALLYING KNIGHT FANS “When we started the season, it was a new beginning for us and the community. There definitely was a sense of optimism and wanting to see us be successful. I watched our community really rally behind us, culminating with the last home game, which had a sellout crowd of more than 10,000 people in the [CFE Arena]. I don’t think we would have played as well down the stretch if it hadn’t been for them. They provided so much energy and enthusiasm that our players just fed off it. We’re just so appreciative of our community.”
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MARCH
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Surrounded by the first sold-out crowd in UCF basketball history, Coach Johnny Dawkins held up an apple after the Knights defeated the Colorado Buffaloes, advancing to the NIT quarterfinals in New York City.
MARCH
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During UCF’s Match Day, 113 of this year’s 114 graduating medical students placed pins on a map, indicating the residency programs that accepted them.
MAY
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Jon Strong ’11 and his company Strong Films recorded scenes for a new UCF commercial, which will air during football games this fall.
APRIL 12
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Students raised $1,250,961 — the largest amount in the event’s history — for the Children’s Miracle Network at Knight-Thon 2017. SUMMER 2017
MARCH
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In celebration of Holi, the Hindu festival of color, students covered one another in colorful powder.
MAY
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Nearly 7,900 students received their diplomas from UCF during this year’s spring commencement ceremonies.
APRIL
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Country music star Lauren Alaina headlined UCFastival and joined Knightro on the field for the spring football game.
APRIL
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Art student Christopher Rivera put the finishing touches on his artwork during an advanced painting class.
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Briefs
STREAMING SUCCESS After premiering at Sundance Film Festival in January, The Discovery, a film co-written by
“[At UCF,] we were free to try Justin Lader ’06, was released on Netflix. In the sci-fi film starring Robert Redford, Jason things and fail, which I believe Segel and Rooney Mara, a scientist discovers that the afterlife is real, leading millions of people is a crucial part of a writer’s or to kill themselves to find what is on the other side. The film is directed by Charlie McDowell, filmmaker’s process in terms of who Lader also worked with on The One I Love, starring Elisabeth Moss and Mark Duplass. finding their voice.”
— Justin Lader ’06
It’s a validation of my creative journey from the conventional idea of film as an image on a screen to this unique hybrid of film, photography and sculpture in a gallery setting. It’s also an affirmation of the creative potential of a multidisciplinary environment like SVAD.”
EXTENDED READING
The Florida Review, a semiannual literary journal published at UCF, looks to expand its 42-year legacy beyond print with the launch of the online supplement, Aquifer. As with the print publication, contemporary fiction, nonfiction, poetry and graphic narratives will be published online with plans to add digital storytelling elements, such as short films and visual art portfolios, within the next year.
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— Mark Gerstein, UCF associate professor, on his artwork being selected for the 2017 Orlando Museum of Art Florida Prize in Contemporary Art exhibition, which runs through August 20
ART EXPLORER Pinkalicious & Peterrific joins WUCF TV and PBS stations nationwide in February 2018. Based on the best-selling books, the new animated series encourages children to explore the arts and spark creativity.
EYE-POPPING DISPLAY
The Channeler, a video game designed by a team of 12 Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy students, won “Most Innovative” and the third place award for “Best Visual Quality” at the 2017 Intel University Games Showcase in San Francisco. As part of the prize, FIEA will receive $7,500 worth of equipment from Intel. The demonstration, led by Summan Mirza ’16MS and Derek Mattson ’17MS, used eye-tracking hardware, allowing players to control the game with their eyes.
KNIGHTS
WAR ON I-4
CHAMPS
The Knights won the first overall title in the War on I-4, beating the USF Bulls 51-33 in the inaugural season-long rivalry series. The annual competition, which launched in September, awards points for head-to-head contests between all of the universities’ sports teams, and includes points for best postseason conference performance and annual Graduation Success Rate.
Computer programming team in the nation; 13th in the world
LET THERE BE LIGHT
GOOD WORDS In 2010, Janet Whiteside became founder and director of the Aphasia House at UCF, which has since become one of the nation’s leading facilities for speech and language therapy for survivors of strokes and other brain injuries. This August, she is retiring after more than 16 years at UCF. Amy Engelhoven from Baldwin Wallace University will take over as director.
$
Professional selling program, for team and individual, in the nation A.J. SOSTAKOWSKI AT AJS MEDIA
UCF Assistant Professor Fernando Uribe-Romo has found a way to create artificial photosynthesis to produce clean air and energy. Uribe-Romo and a group of students used synthetic material to break carbon dioxide down into solar fuel. The discovery has the potential to create technology that could significantly reduce greenhouse gases.
TOP
ON
Wrestling club in the nation (Justin Griffith won the National Championship for 133lb weight class at the National Collegiate Wrestling Association)
Paintball club in the nation for the second time in four years
Women’s golf team and individual golfer (Ashley Holder) in the American Athletic Conference
Men’s golf team in the Southeast region
Baseball team in the American Athletic Conference
Runner in the South (Anne-Marie Blaney ’15)
Rowing team in the American Athletic Conference
315 MILLION
Video game school in North America (The Princeton Review and PC Gamer)
TOTAL AMOUNT CONTRIBUTED AS OF JUNE 15 BY MORE THAN 70,000 ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF THE UNIVERSITY TO IGNITE: THE CAMPAIGN FOR UCF, WHICH AIMS TO RAISE $500 MILLION FOR MISSION-CRITICAL PROJECTS LIKE STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS BY JULY 2019
University in the nation for research that leads to new technologies, products and companies (The Milken Institute)
Master’s and doctoral programs listed in the top 100 graduate school rankings (U.S. News & World Report)
The Feed
Find more @
ucf.edu/today
@UCF
@University of Central Florida
Good Sport
Wrestling Mania
A $5 million gift from Kenneth G. Dixon ’75 will transform 95 acres into a hub for student-athletes. bit.ly/ucf-good-sport
PHOTO OF NEWSON BY JAMAAL MURRAY
How Dasha (Gonzalez) Kuret ’12 went from Miss UCF to the WWE. bit.ly/ucf-wrestling-mania
Building Better Health
Light Work
The State University System’s Board of Governors approved a partnership hospital between UCF and the Hospital Corporation of America. bit.ly/ucf-building-better-health
From UCF to Hamilton
Desmond Newson ’05 joined the cast of Hamilton for the national tour of the award-winning Broadway show. bit.ly/ucf-from-ucf-to-hamilton
A UCF professor has invented a way to use light beams to continuously monitor for blood clots during critical surgeries. bit.ly/ucf-light-work
WHAT’S TRENDING ON... UCF TODAY Improving Transgender Care Nursing students are using training simulations to learn how to provide knowledgeable and compassionate care for transgender patients. bit.ly/ucf-improvingtransgender-care
Global Competitors
A team of UCF engineers represented the U.S. at the Siemens Global University Challenge in Germany. bit.ly/ucf-global-competitors
Health Matters
The Clinton Foundation recognized a free clinic run by UCF students for innovation in health care training and education. bit.ly/ucf-health-matters DOWNLOAD the digital edition of Pegasus at: bit.ly/ucf-pegasus
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Apr 13 @UCFORC Today is the 30th anniversary of UCF’s first #patent filing. bit.ly/2p1pwdj @uspto Apr 20 @UCFSciences Four #UCF students are going to L.A. to intern on @ABCSharkTank this year. And 2 former interns just got promoted! Apr 26 @CFEArena A hilariously inappropriate night with #UCF’s #DogsOverKids own @danieltosh last night! #TinyHomeTrailerPark
University of Central Florida April 5, 2017 This day in history: On April 5, 1968, the Pegasus logo was officially unveiled by President Charles Millican, from a design by Jim Shattuck and Norman Van Meter. Pegasus is the winged horse of Greek mythology. He carried heroes on to great adventures and earned a place in the stars as a constellation. More than 50 proposals were considered during the process. The Pegasus design was chosen for its distinctiveness — and it symbolizes the university’s vision of limitless possibilities.
May 13 @UCF_Knightro @UCF_Baseball > any other baseball team #ChargeOn in the AAC. Nbd May 16 @UCFadmissions It’s summer break and #MiniKnightro is off on some amazing travel adventures! This week, he’s atop Table Mountain in South Africa.
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Rich Morton I am a UCF alumnus. Proud to be represented by Pegasus. A young friend of mine thought it was a unicorn. I corrected her but still April 5 had a chuckle. Definitely not a unicorn.
Artifact
By Design Limbitless Solutions’ bionic arms highlight each child’s passion and personality.
2. The Theme
BY ANGIE LEWIS ’03
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Limbitless Solutions didn’t start off with the colorfully detailed, custom designs for which they’re now known — such as the Iron Man-inspired arm their first recipient, Alex Pring, received in 2015. It wasn’t until the UCF student-run organization that creates free, 3-D printed bionic arms for children noticed Alex changing the colorful fingertips on the original arm he received that they realized how important it was to give kids arms that show off their personalities. This creative customization is what inspired Stephanie Valderrama ’16 to volunteer for the nonprofit. The graphic design major says she often found herself in the engineering building, admiring its innovative, fun spaces, when she came across a display of Alex and the work Limbitless Solutions was doing. “I saw the [arm] sleeves and noticed that they were hand-painted,” she says. “I like to paint, so I thought I would volunteer and start there.” After first putting her graphic design skills to use on one of the organization’s Indiegogo campaigns, which helps to raise much of the money to create and build bionic limbs, Valderrama finally got to show off her artistic abilities, designing and hand-painting the intricate details on many of the arms.
When beginning the design of Connor’s arm, Valderrama had very little knowledge of Minecraft. And she had never heard of Connor’s favorite character, the Endermen, who have long arms and purple eyes and leave behind floating purple particles when they teleport. “I decided to explore the video game realm and played some games to immerse myself,” she says. “I took inspiration from the cubical form and colors for my sketches.”
3. The Design Valderrama knew the design would be tough since Minecraft is pixelated, much like video games in the early ’80s. To achieve the look, she used spray, acrylic and metallic paints in designing this arm, which is made from the same plastic as Legos. “We had just bought metallic spray paint and never used it before,” she says. “The sparkly texture made the sleeve all the more interesting, and it fit with the mystical character Connor loves so much.”
4. The Ultimate Payoff
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Connor’s mom, Wendy, says he was most affected by “the fact that he was finally getting the opportunity to feel ‘whole’ for the first time in his life. He spent much of that evening testing out the arm and opening and closing the hand, trying to pick up small objects. Several times, I would notice his full hand holding the prosthetic hand. At first, I didn’t think anything about it. Later on, I realized, he has never had his other hand to hold — and now he has one.”
5. The Reaction Here’s the inside scoop on Valderrama’s favorite bionic arm.
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1. The Reveal
For most kids, the real approval comes from their friends. And thanks to Valderrama’s spot-on design work, Connor’s Minecraft masterpiece received unanimous approval from all. “[Limbitless Solutions] did an outstanding job on the artwork of his arm,” Wendy says. “His classmates at school thought it was a pretty neat design when he showed them. All of our friends and family loved the look of the arm, but beyond that, it was the smile on Connor’s face that lit up the whole room.”
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Connor Moline was born with a partial left limb due to amniotic band syndrome. He was 12 years old when he received his Minecraft-themed arm as part of Limbitless Solutions’ 12 Arms for Christmas project in 2015. “That was my first time seeing the reaction of a child getting my arm,” Valderrama says of watching the family’s home video. “He opened his wrapped box and said, ‘It’s my Minecraft arm! It’s so cool!’ He turned it all around and had this look of amazement.”
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1ON1
Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities and percussion professor Jeff Moore has spent the past four years mentoring Calvin Chiu ’17, a marimbist from Hong Kong. The two sat down to discuss the role of mentorship for musicians, recovering from mistakes during performances, and their favorite sounds. J EFF MOORE:
of music?
What is your earliest memory
CALVIN CHIU: I started [playing the]
piano around age 4 — in Asia, we start music education very early. I was hyperactive when I was young. I couldn’t really sit still and practice for hours, so my mom thought that because my dad works for a talent agency, and he takes care of the singers and stuff, she thought, “Why don’t you go play the drum set?” That’s how I started. How about you? J M I was also very young. My parents have
film of it. They’re big Beach Boys fans, so they’d put on the Beach Boys, and at 2 or 3 years old, I was dancing around. At family get-togethers, they would put me in the center of the room and put the music on to watch me dance. My dad was an amateur drummer, so they slowly started putting drums in the circle where I was dancing, and I started hitting the drums and playing with the music. That was really what got me started. When did you know you were a musician? CC I think I was
12 when the Berlin Philharmonic came to Hong Kong to do a concert. They played Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, the “Resurrection Symphony,” which is one of my favorite pieces. It was a very
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transformative experience for me. I had no idea how music could really make you feel, that complicated thing that you can’t really tell anyone in words. We watched the whole thing, which is like an hour long, and I didn’t even fall asleep. I was shocked. I was so surprised that music could really make me feel like, “Wow.” If I could play music like this then I could change people’s perspective or change their lives. J M That’s a great piece for that. CC Yes, one of the best. How about you? J M I knew I wanted to be a musician after
I played with a jazz band in school. This was in middle school, and I was able to play a drum solo. I loved the response I was getting from the audience. I liked the idea of creating something that hadn’t been put together before. I was influenced by other things, but I thought, “This kind of freedom to improvise within a framework, this is what excites me. I want to do this every day.” Can you tell me about a time when you were performing, and it didn’t go the way you had planned or practiced? CC Actually, when I was playing the concerto this semester with the UCF orchestra — the “Sugaria” by Eric Sammut. It is a pretty long piece, and there are three movements. Before I got on the stage, I wasn’t really nervous, but then after I played the first movement my hands got a bit cold from the AC, so I started to freak out a little bit. That was terrifying. I got back [on track] in the third movement because it was slower, and you have more time to think and you can really breathe. Breathing is a very important aspect to getting your brain to work again. J M Yes, it’s tricky because there’s so much
to think about. I remember when I was an
P EGASUS
undergraduate, I had a mental lapse. I was playing Musser’s “Étude in C” during the departmental forum so there were 200 percussion majors. It’s like in the lion’s den. Everyone’s looking, everyone knows the pieces. I’m playing, everything’s going well I think. And then there’s this white spot in the music; I couldn’t remember the notes. Most people say when that happens, just keep going to the next thing that you can remember and then everything will be all right. Well that wasn’t good enough for me. I said “You know what? I’m gonna start it over again. When I get a running start, it’ll all come back to me.” I started over again. I’m playing faster because I’m nervous. I’m not breathing. I’m making all of these mistakes. I played it better the first time; I should never have done this. And I got to the same spot and [the music] didn’t come. Blank. And then I went on to the end. I ran out of the room after it was over, I was so embarrassed. And my teacher came to me after and said, “That’s an interesting étude. I had never heard that one. Can you transcribe it for me?” So I wrote down what I thought had happened and what was going on in my brain. It was very cathartic. As you know when you make a mistake, that memory can haunt you. Can you talk a little bit about your experience with mentors?
J M Sure, because you have to meet students where they are. I might meet a student who is primarily a marimbist but needs to know how to do other things. If I can put things in a marimba way then maybe they excel better at snare drum or timpani. If they’re a drum set player, they could see the marimba through the lens of a drum set player. And that helps me mentor a great variety of students who have different perspectives.
CC My teacher Sophia [Woo Shuk-fai] was very influential. All of my really early percussion education comes from her. When I was young, I was very scared of her because she was very strict. I remember the first time I saw her: It was in the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. I was sitting outside the long corridor with all of the practice rooms, and I could hear her yelling at her students about how they didn’t practice or something. I was just this young kid freaking out. My hands were all sweaty. I went in, and it went fine. But she had a very high standard for me because she knew that if I really tried, I could deliver in the end. I didn’t know that in the beginning; I was kind of frustrated. As I get older, even now, I become more and more grateful for what she did for me.
CC My favorite sound is when you walk onto the stage, before you play, and you hear this silence that is kind of awkward. The audience just breathes slower and they concentrate on the music before you play it. I really like that sound because it makes me focus on the music more. It is terrifying but also very exciting. The silence before all the music happens — I think it’s the best thing.
who was a mentor. This helped me to navigate a diverse field of percussion, and I was able to focus on being a generalist. For me, the mentorships allowed for support to do these different things but also expanded my network, my friends and opportunities to play. And that’s what mentorship means to me in music. CC Does that influence how you teach us?
CC What’s your favorite sound or noise? J M My favorite sound or noise is applause — not only getting it but also giving it. I love the connection that you have with a lot of people. Communication is so important but then communication that leads to joy or happiness or appreciation — it’s one of the greatest reaffirmations that all the work you put in has been meaningful for people. What about you?
J M Early on, your teachers are your mentors
and they facilitate. But mentorship goes beyond the teaching part. Music, like all professions, is a network. And it’s a very interesting network in that there are different schools of performance and interpretation and philosophy. If you can establish mentors in these different schools, it expands your network. If you become isolated, your options are narrower. I had an orchestral percussionist teacher who was a mentor, a rudimental percussionist teacher who was a mentor, and a jazz drummer To watch the video interview and hear them play, visit ucf.edu/pegasus.
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BIG
THE START OF SOMETHING
HOW AN IDEA FUELED PRESIDENT JOHN C. HITT’S 25-YEAR TENURE AT UCF.
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N T A U R U S B LV D
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Offer the best undergraduate education available in Florida. Achieve international prominence in key programs of graduate study and research. Provide an international focus to our curricula and research programs. Become more inclusive and diverse. Be America’s leading partnership university.
UCF IN 1992
With a strong focus on academics, UCF’s burgeoning campus featured many classroom buildings but few resources to encourage an engaging student lifestyle. On-campus housing and extracurricular options were limited.
LV G EMINI B
1
“It was such a casual moment, so understated, that it’s amazing when contrasted with what we have become,” Holsenbeck says. “Through those goals, we’ve built our university and our neighborhood — beyond what just about anybody on the outside ever could have imagined.” Those five goals have guided Hitt’s presidency. They have helped grow UCF from the 115th largest university based on enrollment to one of the largest universities in the nation. In fact, Hitt has conferred more than 80 percent of all degrees awarded since UCF’s founding in 1963, including 93 percent of all doctoral degrees. His ability to see possibilities where others have not has garnered him recognition from Washington Monthly as one of the 10 Most Innovative College Presidents in America, and he is regularly recognized as one of the most powerful people in Orlando, the fastest-growing region in Florida. On March 1, 2017, Hitt celebrated 25 years as president of UCF. Here are just a few of the ways that an idea — developed over a lifetime, scratched quickly on a napkin — shaped the future of a university and a generation of students.
A L A F AYA T R
W
here does creativity come from? We talk about sparks or moments of inspiration as if they come out of nowhere. But what can appear as a spark often only occurs after a long period of wrestling to find just the right solution. For John C. Hitt, it came after years of thinking deeply about what a modern university could be. In 1992, not long after he had accepted the position of president at UCF, he was sitting in an airport restaurant when the framework for how to transform UCF crystallized. There, Hitt jotted down the idea on a napkin and handed it to Dan Holsenbeck, currently vice president of university relations. On that napkin was the future of UCF — five handwritten goals:
1992
1998
1
The first Pegasus Professor Award is given to Professor Charles Dziuban. Pegasus Professor is the highest designation UCF awards to a senior faculty member, and each one is determined by the president.
1996
UCF founds the 23-county Florida High Tech Corridor Council with the University of South Florida. The University of Florida has since joined, anchoring a public-private effort that has generated more than 3,200 jobs with a direct and indirect economic benefit of $1.3 billion.
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AUGUST 8, 1997
The Student Union opens.
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2004
The Rosen College of Hospitality opens, thanks to a donation of $10 million and 25 acres of land from Harris Rosen.
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Simply stated, I believe Walt Disney and John Hitt have done more to transform Central Florida into a vibrant, dynamic place than any two people.”
BIG OUTCOMES ENROLLMENT
— JEB BUSH
21,267
1991–92
FLORIDA GOVERNOR, 1999–2007
2016–17
64,318
DEGREE PROGRAMS
2017
1991–92
UCF IN 2017
141 212
2016–17
As a modern metropolitan university, UCF boasts robust housing, entertainment, dining and athletic opportunities. Our lively campus provides vital cultural and intellectual resources for thousands of students every day.
COLLEGES
1992
5 13
2017 AVERAGE SAT SCORE
1991–92
1011 1262
2016–17 AQ UA R I U S AG O R A DR
CE
RESEARCH FUNDING
$28.4 MILLION
1991–92
N T A U R U S B LV D
A L A F AYA T R
2016–17 MINORITY ENROLLMENT
1991–92 AP
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2016–17
44.8%
2017
264,799
A PARTIAL VIEW
D T RSI
15.4%
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MAY 30, 2006 Governor Jeb Bush signs legislation establishing the College of Medicine.
The 1,415-acre main campus is the hub of UCF, but it hardly represents everything we do. Among the areas not included in this view are Research Park, Rosen College of Hospitality near International Drive, the Health Sciences Campus at Lake Nona, and the new UCF Downtown campus.
DEGREES AWARDED AT UCF
1991
55,348* *THROUGH DECEMBER THROUGH MAY
DOCTORAL DEGREES AWARDED AT UCF
128* *THROUGH DECEMBER 1991 THROUGH MAY
5
MARCH 30, 2017
UCF opens Spectrum Stadium (formerly Bright House Networks Stadium) and CFE Arena in the same week.
MARCH 2, 2016
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The Florida Board of Governors approves a new UCF Downtown campus in partnership with Valencia College, the city of Orlando and Creative Village.
6
UCF launches DirectConnect to UCF, enabling students to pay substantially less for a bachelor’s degree and becoming a model for 2+2 programs (two years at a two-year college plus two years at a four-year university) in the nation.
4,806
NUMBERS UPDATED JUNE 19, 2017
2007
2006
2017
7
JANUARY 1, 2014
UCF defeats No. 6 Baylor 52-42 in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona.
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The Florida Board of Governors approves the UCF Lake Nona Medical Center, which will focus on providing health care services to the community as well as education 10 and research opportunities.
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H S A L F IN A
ewer. rds or f o w 0 5 1 ers. . 6 writ 1 prompt J. Cole By Laura
Commonl y define d by it count ( s word 1,000 w nanofict o rds or ion (55 the for fewer), m defies words), d ribbles t y p i cal charact (50 wor erizati ds), drabble on. It s (100 include can w o all of r ds), qu fiction the ele ick and pos of stor ments t ytellin c a r d fictio The Chi g — n. p l nese ca ot, setting ll it “ , chara long” b s c m t o e k r ARGUABL e , ecause conflict and nar Y FUELE one sho ration able to u — D BY TH l d b u b t e it need not. It read th E INTERNE e story should the tim T GENER create in e it ta intense a ATION ,S n kes to e m o t i a o s SHORT A n m c a o i l ke g a i r m e pact. B in its tte. An TTENTIO simples ut d the N S P A N, Japanes t r e a l i e should zation call it FLASH F be a si it “palm-o ICTION the-han mple sk fHAS d” beca flash, o e t c h , use, we or f a sce QUICKLY s l t n l o e , r ; i the e a s s o BECOME are sho napshot f a mom rt enou ent in ONE OF fit in t g time. h t o THIS DE h e palm CADE ,S of your The sho h POPULAR a n d . rtest o LITERAR Smitten f this has bee w Y FORMS f i o t r h m the ide n calle . BUT a of being a d “Twit ble to because WHAT EX teratur share m e” it adhe ACTLY I stories ultiple r e s S I T? t o the platfor , from mu m s 140 ltiple authors c h a r a , we tu cter limit, rned to and can Departm the easily ent of under # b e f o English und sixword a s s a k t nd e o d r y p , r by Erne ofessor inspire st Hemi s, stud d , and alu n e g n w ts a y m s alleg tale: “ ni in t ed For sal he crea writing e: Baby t i v e program shoes. Never w to subm orn.” B some fla i ut it,s t s h fictio also often b n of th own. Th een ref eir e promp erred t o t was s as shor “ m imply irrors t short and refl ection, stories each wr ” and , sudde iter ha n d only fiction, w 150 o rds to microfic weave t tion, High school drama class, 2004: The mirro heir ta Here,s r le. w h a t they game — sit, knees touching, cross-legged, created . with your younger sister — your assigned partner. Mimic her movements. Focus. Conne ct. Don,t speak. What would you say, anyway?
Hands
Forgive me, sister. I have sinned. She,s had a tough night — red eyes, ringed by yellow crust from crying. Your fault. Heat fuzzes your cheeks like TV snow static. You heard once that no one ever touches anyone else; touch is just electron transfer. Your four hands hover at your chests — push away? Pull closer? Hands shake. Watch the electrons leap the space between your palms — almost pressed in prayer. Allison Pinkerton ,15MFA is a lecturer at UCF and the 2017 Kathy Fish Fellow at SmokeLong Quarterly. Her fiction is forthcoming from Image and has been published online at The Pinch, Monkeybicycle and elsewhere.
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Mirror, Mirror
or said. The t,” the mirr ,re no longer the faires or from “You lled the mirr the queen pu so , ar li a o longer,” mirror was yal floor. “N it on the ro d he as sm d her feet. the wall an the tile at winking from , ed am re sc ound the each shard the queen gr royal boot, r he of silenced. el With the he would not be ill the dust st d an , r mouth st he glass to du een opened sang. The qu st du e th r royal he ,” “No longer e dust coated ream, and th sc l ya the queen ro , a to scream soon enough lungs. Until, r he d ce la . throat. It e was no more no longer, sh was not only
The the author of Poissant is His work David James s. r ge so ua es ng of la pr in five Associate s, in print The New York imals: Storie ago Tribune, Heaven of An ic Ch , ic nt Atla e Th ram at UCF. in og pr ed A has appear hes in the MF ac te He e. sewher Times and el
Distorted Image My gaze falls on the cheap mirror hanging crookedl y off to the si de of the refriger ator. In it, my eyes are beady, red and puffy. My hooked nose is extra long an d bright pink. Th e mirror has a distortion. The middle part of it elongates my face while the outer part stre tches it out. I know this, and yet, I wonder ho w much of a differ ence it makes. Hana Al-Harastani , 17 hails from Michigan. She is the social media coordinator and assistant fiction editor at The Flo rida Review.
Cool You r Heart
Before your fi rst da shows te, mi you ho rror y w ou to kis traces s prop the sh erly. a p He e of you air, c r date ups th e i n s i the l houett leans e by i in slo t w s l y c . h in, You tu mirror rn awa you us y when es his tongue : .erofe b siht nees t, nevah uoy ek iL “Just not in a c t i o off th n,” yo e ligh u say. t so m You tu you pr irror rn actice you ca , n t see your h You kn andsha ow mir ke, yo ror yo ur hel when y u will lo. ou don , b e disa t come ppoint of lip home w ed stick; ith a you co trophy unleas uldn ,t hing y go thr our mo ough was a uth on plague her li . ke it
J. Bra dley ,0 1 is t Flash he sen Fictio ior ed n Revi itor o Advent ew and f New ures o the au f J thor o e sus Ch and th f The r e Yelp ist, B o review y Dete Pick H ctive, prose ow You poem c Will R ollect evise ion a Memo ry.
irror M y t i n Infi
,s st month a L . y r e he gall replaced her to t phs were a He took r g o t g o h reflectin silver p ach one e gelatin , s r o r nity mir with infi smaller. hts ever g i l n o e n he said. finite,” ,t really be in pe you microsco n o “It can r t c e l e .” nder an t fizzles “I bet u the ligh e r e h w e could se said. e,” she ite to m n fi n i s k “Loo rever.” lasts fo ger “Nothing ror, big next mir e h t tal o r t o ked in ke a p They loo ooked li l t I . s other than the ion. r dimens e h to anot . she said ,t know that,” d “You don on echoe away. Ne g n i l l a , f dark he LEDs was too He saw t e center h T . way n a o i g iv slidin into obl written, n u o o t , too open ever. r o f o t h.D. in in gin a P
be , A will ouston s 17MF ty of H Stephen niversi U e h t Brendan ppeared ng at k has a e writi ous wor i erary v creativ e r p x is Fo Lit fall. H , Black y l r e t in the r e. a Qua lsewher Carolin d and e in The the Voi o t n I , e Magazin
Chumki On days like this when all the bulbs in his crumbling bookshop, all the halogen heads and all the people in this overcrowded city sparkle like chumkis on a bridal veil, Gourhari closes the shop and walks to the red-light area. Jui, the prostitute, wraps herself in the old red silk and wears the bridal veil when she hears Gourhari walk upstairs to her room. He says her face is a mirror of his wife,s. A distant reflection of love that died the second day of their marriage. She moves a little, angling herself so the chumkis on her veil smile. The saddest smile. For years. Bishnupriya Chowdhuri is from West Bengal, India. She is working on her MFA in creative writing at UCF. She loves to paint and is a thick dreamer.
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SPOTLIGHT ON TALENT
_______________________ AYA N A C A M P B E L L S M I T H ’ 1 4 D R E W P OW E R S ’ 1 1 _______________________ CO-FOUNDERS OF ORLANDO C R E AT O R S
After landing a job with an Orlandobased creative agency, Ayana Campbell Smith ’14 realized she was surrounded by other talented graphic designers and visual artists. She teamed up with fellow Envy Labs designer Drew Powers ’11, his wife Hillery (Brooks) Powers ’11, and videographer Morgan Walker ’12 to establish Orlando Creators, an online interview series showcasing Orlando designers and visual artists.
Smith: Our goal at Orlando Creators is to spotlight the creative talent that’s in Orlando because I think a lot of people around the nation don’t realize how much talent we have here. Powers: Orlando is the hospitality mecca of the world, but if you stick around long enough, you’ll realize that there is a small community here besides the swirling sea of people coming and going. I am generally a big fan of archival projects. I would love for this to be an archive — a snapshot of a time in the city. I like living here, and I’m looking for ways to make my own city better.
Smith: It brings me joy to be able to spotlight these creatives, to give them a platform, to spread their message and then to share their work. To the soon-to-be graduates or creative types looking for their niche: Plug yourself into the local creative community wherever you are. Get involved, and see what you can do.
“A L O T O F PEOPLE AROUND T H E N AT I O N DON’T REALIZE HOW MUCH TA L E N T W E H AV E H E R E . ” AYA N A C A M P B E L L S M I T H ’ 1 4
C E N T R A L F LO R I DA I S B E CO M I N G A H U B O F A R T I ST I C AC T I V I T Y — A N D U C F G R A D S A R E AT T H E C E N T E R
PRESSING ON
_______________________ R YA N R I VA S ’ 0 5 _______________________ CO-FOUNDER OF BURROW PRESS A N D I T S Q U A R T E R LY R E A D I N G S E R I E S , F U N C T I O N A L LY L I T E R AT E
Ryan Rivas ’05 was teaching high school English in Gainesville, Florida, when his wife’s job brought him back to Orlando. That’s when he met Julia Young, who had just started a program
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called Page 15. The idea behind Page 15 is to offer free creative writing and reading programs to Orlando’s children — and inspire a lifelong love of the language arts. By 2010, Rivas had co-founded Burrow Press, an independent publisher of literary work, largely fiction. One of Burrow Press’ main missions: to build the literary community in Orlando. The first book Burrow Press published was an anthology of short stories by Florida writers called Fragmentation. It turned out that a lot of the writers we had chosen lived in Orlando. We had a
big book release party. That’s when we realized that many local people were interested in writing, and reading, and literature — more than we thought. I get to wake up and think about books and think about writing. There are a ton of headaches, as there are with every business, but honestly, I get to focus on what I love to do, every day.
There was a burgeoning writing community in Orlando. So we thought we could use our connections to bring in big authors and get locals involved, too. We brought in authors from Portugal and Ireland but mainly across the United States. New York Times best-sellers. National Book Award finalists. Literary high-brow, genre-benders, experimental poets. The idea is to present the broadest array of what’s happening in contemporary literature.
MADE IN THE SHADOWS
card one year in elementary school, and to celebrate, my parents took me to see The Nightmare Before Christmas. That movie had such an impact on me. I love that flirtation with Halloween, the occult. I like that imagery. I’m fascinated by it.
_________________ S E A N WA L S H ’ 1 2 _________________ OWNER OF SECRET SOCIETY GOODS
Sean Walsh ’12, a graphic designer, has always had a love of the macabre. When he began creating lapel pins and bandanas with an eerie twist, he decided to put them online to see if they would sell. Seems he’s not the only one with a love of the dark side.
I think Orlando’s time has come, and there’s a perfect storm of things happening. You’re seeing a lot of civic pride due to things like the new Amway Arena and the Orlando City Soccer Club. I think
I can pinpoint a moment in my childhood when I realized that I was attracted to the macabre. I got straight-A’s on my report
in the past, there’s been a tendency to treat Orlando a little bit like a bus stop — people used it as a transition city. I think we’re seeing more and more people who are saying, “I don’t need to go far away to make something cool.” I think all it takes to turn a city around is for people to decide, “Hey, this is a nice place to live, why don’t we contribute to it?” Some people get themselves organized and say, “I have a business idea, and this is my business plan, and these are my target goals.” I wish I could say that I was one of those people.
PHOTOS BY GARRETT JUSS PHOTOGRAPHY
F R O M T H E AT E R T O G R A P H I C D E S I G N T O C U LT I VAT E D G R A F F I T I — O F T H E C R E AT I V E B O O M .
LIFE ON THE FRINGE
_______________________ M I C H A E L M A R I N ACC I O ’ 9 8 _______________________ F E S T I VA L P R O D U C E R F O R T H E O R L A N D O F R I N G E F E S T I VA L
BY MAUREEN HARMON
something for the Fringe. Then when the festival producer position opened up, he landed his dream job. At 26, we are the oldest fringe festival in the United States. Over that time, we’ve created an avenue for lots of artists to take chances, innovate and develop as businesspeople and entrepreneurs. It’s led to the birth of many theater and performing arts companies.
In 1997, Michael Marinaccio ’98 got together with some friends from Theatre UCF and created a sitcom called “The Zombie Doorman.” It was written by Tod Kimbro ’02. “Think of an R-rated Friends,” Marinaccio says. They took the show to the Orlando Fringe Festival, and Marinaccio fell in love with YEARS the atmosphere. For the RUNNING next 15 years, he produced, directed, acted in or wrote
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I cry once every festival. It’s always tears of joy and inspiration. It’s usually from a show or an artist that far surpasses my expectations. There is a group called the Downtowners, a choir from Orlando Lutheran Towers, which performed. Their
youngest member is around 70 years old, and their oldest member just turned 102. They sing fun pop songs and standards. They’re totally an amateur group, and you may not be completely blown away by the performances, but they show so much joy when they’re singing. It’s infectious. If you can watch a 101-year-old woman sing “Forever Young” and not cry, you’re not human.
festivals are almost all multigenre festivals, so they include anything from juggling to drama, musical theater, poetry or puppetry.
M
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T H I S WAY
>
>
>
There are many different types of fringe festivals throughout the world, but I think the one thing that binds us all together is independently produced, cuttingedge performing arts. Fringe
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LOCAL LOVE
_______________________ HILLERY (BROOKS) POWERS ’11 JIM HOBART ’88 _______________________ CO-FOUNDERS OF LOCAL LOV E O R L A N D O
Jim Hobart ’88 met Hillery (Brooks) Powers ’11 in his advertising course at UCF. A few years later, he hired Powers to manage his photography company, Macbeth Studio, which largely focuses on portraits, architectural photography and video. As the business expanded, Powers began to create custom backdrops for the shoots, which eventually evolved beyond the standard studio shoot. Macbeth, its photographers and those creative backdrops were being recruited for parties and fundraising events. And some of that creativity became so popular that the pair created a spinoff, Local Love Orlando, which specializes in hand-drawn prints and goods that celebrate The City Beautiful. Hobart: I started a monthly event called First Friday Fotos, where I did headshots for very low prices. We would have 20 to 40 people walk through the door, and I would never know who was coming — large, small, black, white, old, young. I had every type of person walking through the door, and I had to learn how to photograph people. Then Hillery got involved and started saying, “Let’s make it a little more involved than just a red background. Let’s create
something.” So, the photo booth backdrop evolved out of us trying to make it a little more interesting. And then that modified into fundraising for causes we believe in, and that evolved into events, and suddenly people were calling us for their wedding receptions, or their dinner parties, or their company holiday parties. Powers: I have lived in other places, and when I moved back to Orlando, I developed this love for the city. I was proud of the things that were happening here. I was proud of the smaller coffee shops, and the markets, and all these people who have invested in Orlando. And I really love being part of that. Powers: We decided to do a backdrop for an event to raise awareness for a local homelessness campaign. So we made a map of Orlando. I designed it, and a few artists helped paint it. Dozens of people started reaching out asking for prints of the map. That’s how our print company, Local Love Orlando, got its start.
SHORTS STAND TALL
Nelson: That first year we were just making it up as we went along. We did it at our local chamber of commerce. We have a local historic theater, but we were afraid that nobody would show up. We sold out pretty much every showing.
_______________________ GENE KRUCKEMYER ’73 N E L S O N B E V E R LY ’ 0 4 C H R I ST I N A G R AC E B E V E R LY ’ 0 4 _______________________ C O - F O U N D E R S O F T H E LOV E YO U R S H O R T S F I L M F E S T I VA L
When Gene Kruckemyer ’73 and his wife, Nancy, discovered the Dam Short Film Festival in Nevada, they figured it was just the kind of thing that Sanford, Florida, needed. So they started their own film festival, Love Your Shorts, with friends, including Christina Grace Beverly ’04 and Nelson Beverly ’04, who also have a love of the genre. Now in its eighth year, Love Your Shorts screens 70 to 80 short films at the historic Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center every year and welcomes more than 2,000 attendees. Gene: One year, a film we were showing, God of Love, was up for an Academy Award. The filmmaker couldn’t come to the festival, but his mother was here from Amelia Island, Florida. She accepted his award for Best of the Fest. Turns out, he was in California getting ready for the Academy Awards, where he won an Oscar. Christina: Who doesn’t like a movie? And it’s even cooler when it’s a short film because it’s short and sweet. Now it is hard for me to sit through a two-hour film. I don’t like horror films, but for some reason I really enjoy watching the horror film shorts. Two hours of suspense may be a bit much, so maybe I can deal with five minutes of it.
“THERE IS OFTEN A MISPERCEPTION ABOUT SANFORD. WE WANTED TO HAVE AN EVENT AND INVITE PEOPLE IN AND SAY, ‘LOOK, THIS IS SANFORD. COME AND SEE IT FOR YOURSELF.’ ” C H R I S T I N A G R A C E B E V E R LY ’ 0 4
PHOTO BY JESSE WALSH
It’s easy for politicians to paint the arts and culture in a frivolous light. But there are a lot of organizations that work very hard at showing the economic impact of the arts and cultural experiences of a city. That’s really important for us to recognize. The arts aren’t frivolous. They’re an essential fiber of the city.
WE BUILT THIS CITY ON CREATIVITY
_______________________ COLE NESMITH ’07 _______________________ EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF T H E C R E AT I V E C I T Y P R O J E C T
To Cole NeSmith ’07, bridges and roads are the skeleton of a city, but arts and culture are its soul. NeSmith developed the Creative City Project, an organization that hosts an annual public performance and installation arts event called Immerse. He spends the rest of his time advocating for artistic development in the community — and for the artists themselves. The Creative City Project has three objectives: One is to cultivate a thriving arts community in Orlando. The second is to help the residents of our city care more about it. And the third is to shape the global perception of our city as one known for innovation and creativity. From year one, we’ve had a relationship with Cirque du Soleil, and it’s been really wonderful. On a whim that first year, we gave them a call and said, “Here’s what we are doing. Do you want to participate?” We didn’t have a budget, and we didn’t really have much of a structure as an organization. But they agreed to participate. About 30 of their performers came downtown during a Friday lunch hour, and they performed a 35-minute original piece out in front of City Hall, and a couple thousand people came. It was really special.
“WE BELIEVE THAT AS PEOPLE ENCOUNTER MEANINGFUL, SHARED EXPERIENCES, THEY TRANSFORM THE WAY THEY PERCEIVE THE PEOPLE AND SPACES OF OUR CITY.”
THE WISDOM OF YOUTH
_______________________ E L I Z A B E T H H O R N ’ 1 0 M FA _______________________ A S S I S TA N T P R O F E S S O R I N G R A D U AT E T H E AT R E F O R Y O U N G AUDIENCES PROGRAM
As an undergraduate musical theater major, Elizabeth Horn ’10MFA was a performer and touring manager for a repertory company that visited K–12 schools in Georgia. The experience taught her about the importance of theater for young audiences, and she was hooked. Now, as an assistant professor in the graduate Theatre for Young Audiences program (a partnership between UCF and the Orlando Repertory Theatre), she’s working with her students and the local community to explore social and cultural issues through the arts.
I have students who work with young people on the autism spectrum, with young people who are experiencing grief, and with young people who are in the foster care system. We are frequently looking at theater as a tool to access identity and emotional expression. We helped pilot The Justice Project — a collaboration between UCF and the Orlando Repertory Theatre. In this project, we worked with young men of color at Evans High School, and we trained them in theater techniques. In our pilot program, we asked them, “How do you imagine a just community?” We asked these gentlemen to share their stories, and we crafted their stories and experiences into an original play. All theater really has the power and potential to impact the community, but when we’re working with young people, we tend to focus on that more because we understand all of the opportunities for education and enrichment and personal growth. I think everyone, regardless of age, could benefit from experiences that lead us to all of those things.
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SNAP! TO IT
_______________________ H O L LY K A H N ’ 9 3 _______________________ C O - C U R AT O R A N D E X H I B I T I O N C O O R D I N AT O R F O R S N A P ! GALLERIES
After spending 10 years in California and getting to know photographers who are exploring the medium as a fine art, Holly Kahn ’93 and her husband, Patrick, wanted to bring the contemporary world of photography to Orlando to enhance what they perceived as a burgeoning arts scene. The couple created Snap! Galleries to exhibit international and local photographers — and to educate the public on photography’s ability to branch well beyond headshots and editorial spreads.
within days it would be uninstalled and gone. We needed brick and mortar. After four years, we decided to find a permanent gallery space, where we could maintain a relationship with the artists and engage the community all year long. We did an exhibition called You Are Here. For 30 days, we had a pop-up exhibit, programming, something going on every day. It was held throughout the city. What we were trying to do was show people the gems in the community, whether it was a clothing shop or a newly opened hotel.
THE BEAUTY OF AN EMPTY SPACE
Snap! Galleries was a leap of faith. One of the first people we contacted was Douglas Kirkland. He’s the one who photographed Marilyn Monroe in her bedsheets. He is a dear friend. We invited him to be our guest celebrity speaker, and he accepted. When we approached the Downtown Development Board of Orlando, they enthusiastically gave us logistic and financial support.
PHOTO BY TINA CRAIG
P A R R A M O R E D I S T R I C T I N N O VAT O R
PHOTO BY EMILY JORDAN
“ORLANDO’S ARTS AND CULTURE SCENE IS NOTICEABLY AND RAPIDLY CHANGING, AND WE ARE HAPPY TO BE PART OF THAT EVOLUTION.”
HARRISON RAI _______________________
PHOTO BY ERIKA RECH
Originally, we started as a popup show with no walls. Basically, we would have to find an empty warehouse. We would build an entire exhibition venue with lighting and moveable walls and
_______________________
Harrison Rai, a former UCF business student, refurbishes old warehouses and rents them out. So when he saw the development going on in the Parramore District near the Orlando City soccer stadium, he purchased a few dilapidated buildings and brought them back to life. That space, now known as the West Art District, has become a go-to scenic spot as locals and tourists take in Orlando’s largest street arts exhibit. But Rai hopes it becomes more than just something to look at. Parramore is a great area; it just needed a little love. I started cleaning up the area — pruning trees, cutting the neighbors’ grass. Then I recruited artists to do murals on the buildings’ exteriors. As soon as the murals went up, the atmosphere changed. People were smiling a lot more. They were complimenting the art. We have six buildings, and one of them is going to be a startup incubator with 15 to 20 new businesses. In another building, we’ll have a coffee shop and juice bar. I’d like to put a bakery in there, too. We have another building for CrossFit and yoga; we have an outdoor lounge. The main building is going to be a hybrid event space, where we could have events with pop-up businesses, like restaurants or a microbrewery. I’m hoping that 10 years from now this will be an activity hub for UCF, the soccer stadium and the K–8 school that’s going up a
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few blocks away. I see this as a big hub for students and locals. I hope kids come to the West Art District to learn arts, mathematics, soccer, science and engineering through after-school programs. The West Art District, to me, is about so much more than the art.
“ ’VE HAD ARTISTS REACHING OUT TO ME FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD, HOPING TO BE A PART OF THIS.”
BY ERIC MICHAEL ’96
UCF FACULTY EXPLORE THE IDEA.
A PRACTICE BROOKS DIERDORFF Assistant Professor of Photography
“Creativity comes from working hard and doing it regularly. I think about it as a practice where you show up every day and make things. And even if you don’t feel particularly creative or inspired that day, you keep going and going, and eventually your mind is unlocked. But it takes all that hard work to get to that place. You might make a lot of bad stuff, but you can’t skip that effort.”
A SEARCH A. DALE WHITTAKER Provost and Executive Vice President
“Creativity is bringing something to life that doesn’t exist because you’ve challenged yourself to think and act differently. At UCF, a place that advances knowledge, creativity is essential to everything we do. So the question we always ask is, ‘How do you go beyond what you think you know and think in a way you haven’t thought before to develop an answer that doesn’t yet exist?’ ”
Creativity transcends disciplines. Whether pushing the boundaries of artistic expression or pioneering innovative solutions to scientific problems, creativity is both a tool and a process — an inspired state of mind that can improve pursuits of every kind. We asked a broad spectrum of UCF faculty: What is creativity?
HOW DO YOU DEFINE CREATIVITY? “When I worked with students in the STEAM project — which challenged artists to collaborate with scientists and engineers on artistic expressions of their research — I discovered that their creative processes were very similar. Whether it’s finding a solution to a math problem or creating a painting, creativity is figuring out the process required in a way that may not be obvious or is completely new — a discovery, perhaps. As an engineer, you have to use creativity to solve problems within certain constraints. It’s a process of meeting criteria in ways that aren’t apparent, and thinking in ways that other people haven’t considered. That’s creativity.”
Associate Vice President for Research and Scholarship; Pegasus Professor of Environmental Engineering
DEBRA REINHART ’74
A PROCESS
“Creativity is a process of bringing something new into existence that challenges prevailing assumptions. It’s fundamental to human existence. To challenge prevailing assumptions, you need to discover secrets. From my time as a research scientist and as an entrepreneur, I’ve identified two kinds of secrets. There are static secrets that must be mined or uncovered, and there are dynamic secrets that must be hunted or that emerge under observation. I take inspiration from the writings of Rollo May, who teaches if you seek originality, you probably won’t find it, but if you just observe, embrace chaos, and try to frame it into form, you might uncover those secrets in the process.”
Dr. Phillips Entrepreneur in Residence
MICHAEL PAPE
A SECRET
CREATIVITY COMES FROM WORKING HARD AND DOING IT REGULARLY. “Creativity is about living and learning. It’s improvisational, it’s loud, it’s messy, it’s noisy — it’s all of those things. You can think about many different ways to get to an end, but seeing beyond that end is creativity. So I ask my teaching students what they will do with that student who says, ‘I don’t understand it that way.’ How are you going to get them to see beyond? In this world — now especially — it’s so very important.”
Associate Lecturer and Coordinator, School of Teaching, Learning and Leadership
CAROLYN HOPP
A STEP BEYOND
“I think creativity is a very trainable, improvable skill. I teach my students to try to understand where it comes from. What are creative inspirations, and how can you leverage what you know to improve your odds of being creative on demand? There’s a process — and it’s not putting your fist to your forehead and waiting for a lightning bolt to strike. Creativity is really just your ability to associate two disparate ideas in a way that others haven’t thought of before. You’ve got to proceduralize creativity. And never let a good mistake go to waste.”
Production Director, Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy
RICK HALL
AN ASSOCIATION
“We learned a lot about creativity from doing experiments in artificial intelligence. As soon as you decide to be creative, success becomes a little fuzzy. What does it actually mean to be successful? To be creative, you need to drop your objectives — stop trying to get somewhere in particular — and just follow paths because they’re interesting in their own right. That’s often the story behind great discoveries or great artistic creations. Somebody simply followed their instinct and didn’t have an expectation of what steps they should be following. Many of these ideas are explored in my and Joel Lehman’s recent book, Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned: The Myth of the Objective.”
Associate Professor of Computer Science; Director, Evolutionary Complexity Research Group
KEN STANLEY
AN INSTINCT
“Creativity is the expression of an individual’s way of looking at the world and translating that viewpoint into something shared with the greater human community. I’d like to think that people are much more creative than they give themselves credit for. We express it in different ways, and it can come in many forms. I wrote a piece of music called ‘The Circle Closes,’ and I think that perfect form of the circle where creativity, inspiration and expression combine is an endless process — a perpetual engine. I hope that I can live my life thinking that way and trying to help others embrace the idea of endless creativity as a part of our beings — a part of our souls.”
Director, Center for Research and Education in Arts, Technology and Entertainment; Pegasus Professor
STELLA SUNG
AN EXPRESSION
YOUR BRAIN ON MU IC
“Music can be a drug — a very addictive drug because it’s also acting on the same part of the brain as illegal drugs.” FRONTAL LOBE
BROCA’S AREA
OCCIPITAL LOBE
WHAT
WHAT
WHAT
Used in thinking, decision-making and planning
Enables us to produce speech
Processes what we see
HOW
HOW
HOW
“We use this part of the brain to express music,” Yonetani says. “Playing an instrument may improve your ability to communicate better.”
“Professional musicians use the occipital cortex, which is the visual cortex, when they listen to music, while laypersons, like me, use the temporal lobe — the auditory and language center. This suggests that [musicians] might visualize a music score when they are listening to music,” Sugaya says.
“The frontal lobe is the most important to being a human. We have a big frontal lobe compared to other animals. By listening to music, we can enhance its functions,” Sugaya says.
A POPULAR CLASS BREAKS DOWN HOW OUR BRAINS RESPOND TO MUSIC. Since 2006, two UCF professors — neuroscientist Kiminobu Sugaya and world-renowned violinist Ayako Yonetani — have been teaching one of the most popular courses in The Burnett Honors College. “Music and the Brain” explores how music impacts brain function and human behavior, including by reducing stress, pain and symptoms of depression as well as improving cognitive and motor skills, spatial-temporal learning and neurogenesis, which is the brain’s ability to produce neurons. Sugaya and Yonetani teach how people with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s also respond positively to music. “Usually in the late stages, Alzheimer’s patients are unresponsive,” Sugaya says. “But once you put in the headphones that play [their favorite] music, their eyes light up. They start moving and sometimes singing. The effect lasts maybe 10 minutes or so even after you turn off the music.” This can be seen on an MRI, where “lots of different parts of the brain light up,” he says. We sat down with the professors, who are also husband and wife, and asked them to explain which parts of the brain are activated by music.
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CEREBELLUM TEMPORAL LOBE WHAT
Processes what we hear HOW
“We use the language center to appreciate music, which spans both sides of the brain, though language and words are interpreted in the left hemisphere while music and sounds are interpreted in the right hemisphere,” Yonetani says.
WERNICKE’S AREA WHAT
Comprehends written and spoken language HOW
“We use this part of the brain to analyze and enjoy music,” Yonetani says.
WHAT
Coordinates movement and stores physical memory HOW
“An Alzheimer’s patient, even if he doesn’t recognize his wife, could still play the piano if he learned it when he was young because playing has become a muscle memory. Those memories in the cerebellum never fade out,” Sugaya says.
USE IT OR LOSE IT We are all born with more neurons than we actually need. Typically by the age of 8, our brains do a major neuron dump, removing any neurons perceived as unnecessary, which is why it’s easier to teach language and music to younger children. “If you learn music as a child, your brain becomes designed for music,” Sugaya says.
PUTAMEN
CORPUS CALLOSUM
HYPOTHALAMUS
WHAT
WHAT
WHAT
Processes rhythm and regulates body movement and coordination
Enables the left and right hemispheres to communicate, allowing for coordinated body movement as well as complex thoughts that require logic (left side) and intuition (right side)
Maintains the body’s status quo, links the endocrine and nervous systems, and produces and releases essential hormones and chemicals that regulate thirst, appetite, sleep, mood, heart rate, body temperature, metabolism, growth and sex drive — to name just a few
HOW
“Music can increase dopamine in this area, and music increases our response to rhythm,” Yonetani says. “By doing this, music temporarily stops the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Rhythmic music, for example, has been used to help Parkinson’s patients function, such as getting up and down and even walking because Parkinson’s patients need assistance in moving, and music can help them kind of like a cane. Unfortunately, after the music stops, the pathology comes back.”
HOW
“As a musician, you want to have the right-hand side and the left-hand side of the brain in coordination, so they talk to each other,” Sugaya says. This allows pianists, for example, to translate notes on a sheet to the keys their fingers hit to produce music.
HOW
If you play Mozart, for example, “heart rate and blood pressure reduce,” Sugaya says.
WHAT MUSIC IS THE BEST? Turns out, whether it’s rock ‘n’ roll, jazz, hip-hop or classical, your gray matter prefers the same music you do. “It depends on your personal background,” Yonetani says. For a while, researchers believed that classical music increased brain activity and made its listeners smarter, a phenomenon called the Mozart effect. Not necessarily true, say Sugaya and Yonetani. In recent studies, they’ve found that people with dementia respond better to the music they grew up listening to. “If you play someone’s favorite music, different parts of the brain light up,” Sugaya explains. “That means memories associated with music are emotional memories, which never fade out — even in Alzheimer’s patients.”
MUSIC CAN… CHANGE YOUR ABILITY TO PERCEIVE TIME
TAP INTO PRIMAL FEAR
REDUCE SEIZURES
MAKE YOU A BETTER COMMUNICATOR
MAKE YOU STRONGER
BOOST YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM
ASSIST IN REPAIRING BRAIN DAMAGE
MAKE YOU SMARTER
EVOKE MEMORIES
HELP PARKINSON’S PATIENTS
HIPPOCAMPUS
NUCLEUS ACCUMBENS
WHAT
Produces and retrieves memories, regulates emotional responses and helps us navigate. Considered the central processing unit of the brain, it’s one of the first regions of the brain to be affected by Alzheimer’s disease, leading to confusion and memory loss. HOW
“Music may increase neurogenesis in the hippocampus, allowing production of new neurons and improving memory,” Yonetani says.
WHAT
AMYGDALA WHAT
Processes and triggers emotions HOW
“Music can control your fear, make you ready to fight and increase pleasure,” Yonetani says. “When you feel shivers go down your spine, the amygdala is activated.”
Seeks pleasure and reward and plays a big role in addiction, as it releases the neurotransmitter dopamine HOW
“Music can be a drug — a very addictive drug because it’s also acting on the same part of the brain as illegal drugs,” Sugaya says. “Music increases dopamine in the nucleus accumbens, similar to cocaine.”
SEASONAL SONGBIRDS Sugaya has also conducted neurological studies on songbirds. His research has found that “canaries stop singing every autumn when the brain cells responsible for song generation die.” However, the neurons grow back over the winter months, and the birds learn their songs over again in the spring. He takes this as a sign that “music may increase neurogenesis in the brain.”
OLDEST INSTRUMENT According to National Geographic, a 40,000-year-old vulture-bone flute is the world’s oldest musical instrument. • HAIRY CELLS The ear only has 3,500 inner hair cells, compared to the more than 100 million photoreceptors found in the eye. Yet our brains are remarkably adaptable to music. • SING ALONG In the Sesotho language, the verb for singing and dancing are the same (ho bina), as it is assumed the two actions occur together.
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STORY BY NATHAN HOLIC ’02 ’07MFA • ILLUSTRATED BY KAGAN MCLEOD
1999 By day you’re working at the Borders bookstore in Winter Park, surrounded by the sorts of novels you hope to someday write.
A NOVEL. The ultimate goal for a fiction writer.
By night, you’re workshopping your writing at UCF. You’re drafting short stories for your graduate thesis. If you can just get ONE of these stories published, maybe that will be enough.
A small literary journal. No one even needs to read it.
2001
20 07
You graduate from UCF. An acceptance letter arrives from Berkeley Fiction Review!
You receive a piece of fan mail. It’s a photo of your comic, The Surrogates, on the McMurdo research station in Antarctica. You now have readers on all seven continents.
20 08
201 5
And now you’re in Boston, visiting the set of a movie — the movie based on your graphic novel.
Students are writing theses on your work. Your name is cited in academic journal articles. Something about post-humanism in The Surrogates?
That’s Bruce Willis over there. BRUCE. WILLIS.
Your first publication! This is what you’ve wanted. Or is it?
Much like the movie itself, this — your work studied in academia — is proof that an artist cannot have too rigid a plan.
Sometimes... things just happen.
2017
Your thesis is still up there in the UCF library, still on the long shelves where old graduate theses are stored and forgotten.
It’s there, and anyone can read it, and there was a time when you thought that this — these stories, getting JUST ONE publication — would be enough.
BUT IT WASN’T, WAS IT?
2002 You’re living in Atlanta with your wife, reading comics more and more.
They’re fascinating to you. You didn’t grow up with comics, and so every page — the entire medium — presents possibilities you’d never considered.
So you volunteer at Top Shelf Productions, a comic publisher in Marietta, Georgia. Anything to interact with the people who make these books.
Anything to learn more.
At first, you’re packing boxes. Then you’re driving across the country to conventions, unloading boxes, setting up tables, selling comics in musty exhibit halls, flying home, trudging back to your full-time job at the bookstore...
You’re learning more about comics. Reading more. You’re thinking that maybe this is something you can do. You’re writing a script, scribbling notes on stolen printer paper during work hours at the bookstore,
drafting dialogue in between transactions at the register.
You’re in Top Shelf’s warehouse when the contributor copies of Berkeley Fiction Review arrive. From acceptance to publication, mere months have passed, but as a writer, EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED.
Now you’re thinking, a published story is nice... But what about a comic?
2005 Thousands of boxes packed and unpacked, and you’ve finished a script for a graphic novel.
The Surrogates.
It doesn’t even need to sell.
And Top Shelf will publish it. No one needs to read it. You just want to hold it in your hands.
Your comic, in print!
20 0 5 Your new comic is out, and you’re setting up the Top Shelf booth at another convention. This time it’s the San Diego Comic-Con. Suddenly there are producers in front of you, REAL HOLLYWOOD PRODUCERS, asking if the movie rights to The Surrogates have been sold yet.
You’ve published your second graphic novel, The Homeland Directive.
You’re talking about the “life of the writer.”
You’re talking with students at Wheaton College. At Georgia College & State University. At UCF.
201 3 There are readers who come back every month, who know you and praise you (or curse you, depending upon the story). You’re working with DC Comics, one of the “Big Two” comic publishers. You’re writing The Flash and Green Lantern — iconic characters, recognized across the globe. If you’d pursued only that novel, would you have all this?
201 2
You’re thinking, THIS IS BIG. A new comics publisher — Valiant — is launching their line of mature superhero comics. They’ve tapped YOU as the writer to launch their first series, X-O Manowar.
But you’re also thinking, please please please, let’s just get to 12 issues.
X-O Manowar makes it to 50 issues before...
201 7
201 6
2009
It’s summer, and DC Comics has given you the freedom to create your own character, YOUR OWN TITLE.
DC Comics taps you to work on the DC Rebirth. EVERY SINGLE DC TITLE is getting rebooted,
You’re adapting the first book in the massively popular Percy Jackson series into a graphic novel.
Damage, it’s called, and it won’t even be out until October, but somehow it feels like everything’s built toward this.
and you’ve been entrusted to create a brand-new title, a book called Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps.
Years ago, you trusted a Hollywood studio to adapt your work, and now here you are, entrusted by someone else.
But then again, it feels like everything had built toward Rebirth in 2016, too, and that everything had built toward 2010, when —
Critics love it. Readers, too.
2010 Adaptation was never your goal, but somehow it seems that everything you’ve done has prepared you for this.
Your editor for Percy Jackson asks if you have any ideas for a novel of your own. You’re imagining the story of a kid named Miles who becomes a superhero.
THIS IS YOUR SHOT! A novel. The ultimate goal for a fiction writer.
The book will start as traditional text, but when Miles dons his golden cape, the pages will turn into comics.
Right?
201 5 Miles Taylor and the Golden Cape is published. And it’s a novel you never could’ve written back in grad school, never could have imagined.
FOR N OW... You’re starting to see that a career — a life — is not a straight-line trajectory, a tidy origin story and a hero’s journey. Everything rests upon everything else.
...what’s next is what matters. What matters is that you keep building. It certainly isn’t finished yet. YOU AREN’T FINISHED YET.
Nathan Holic ’02 ’07MFA is a lecturer in UCF’s Department of Writing and Rhetoric, and teaches courses in writing for publication and essay writing, including a “Rhetorics of Comics” course. He is also the graphic narrative editor at The Florida Review, UCF’s internationally recognized literary journal.
AlumKnights
Sam Borkson ’01 creates art to inspire friendship with the world.
To peek inside the mind of artist Sam Borkson ’01 and discover his colorful universe of wild fantasy, all you have to do is log in to Netflix this August and watch True and the Rainbow Kingdom, an animated series that blends art and technology. Borkson is creating it as part of the FriendsWithYou collective, which he started in 2002 with partner Arturo “Tury” Sandoval III to produce fine art in a wide variety of mediums that spread a message of “magic, luck and friendship.” In addition to the new series, Borkson expresses his inner visions through paintings, sculpture, virtual reality games and large-scale interactive inflatable installations across North America, Asia and Europe.
BY ERIC MICHAEL ’96
“We’re really excited about True and the Rainbow Kingdom. It’s like this
Dalai Lama dream of a future utopian society where our characters show empathy for the world and for every little creature in it, and have adventures while sustaining the planet. It started with one painting and it’s becoming a whole living world now.”
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We’re trying to make the world our gallery by communicating simple ideas of compassion, friendship and empathy. Our art is creating the feeling that we want to project and vibrate into the world.” SAM BORKSON
“Being an artist is really this unknown, unspoken philosophical realm where you can uncover truths
about society and yourself at the same time. I think you have to be fearless. You have to put your heart on the line and not care about what people think. The worst-case scenario is that people don’t like it — but if I like it, that’s good.” “When I enrolled at UCF, it was a time of change. The first computer
animation and film programs were starting, and it was a really good time to take advantage of the new technology because you had to do it yourself. Teachers were learning the same stuff that we were, so it was like we were all in it together.”
“Tury and I push each other to better solutions. It’s a yin yang,
beyond-words type of relationship you can’t really describe. There were a lot of little things that showed us that the universe really wants the kind of content we are putting out there. It’s just more fun to do it with somebody pushing you beyond what’s known. That’s the most exciting terrain for me.”
“I was bouncing around with my mom in one of the first inflatable
bounce houses we made for adults, and she got stuck in the corner and started laughing like a little girl. It was so cute and beautiful, just seeing her laugh that hard. You see people almost transform when you give them that kind of experience. It’s so rare and magical to see people, grown-ups especially, just letting go and playing inside of an environment.”
“Virtual reality is hugely inspirational
because it’s a whole new frontier that’s just being explored. It’s enabled us to bring our work to life in a different way. We worked with a few insanely talented programmers every day for two months to develop the Light Spirit, an artificial intelligence creature that lives inside a virtual space where you can touch and play with it. It has moved a few people to the point of crying.”
IMAGES COURTESY OF FRIENDSWITHYOU
Class Notes
Christian music singer-songwriter Francesca Battistelli ’07, winner of a Grammy and six Dove Awards, toured with seven other Bethel Music recording artists in October. The result is Starlight, a live album that includes performances from the “Worship Nights” tour.
PHOTO BY ANDREW ECCLES
1973
1977
1982
1988
Raymond Jones is celebrating 35 years as the owner of Home Connection, a licensed contracting company based in Groveland, FL.
Vincent Busche retired from DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa, AL, after 40 years working in respiratory care.
Edith (Trench) McGee retired after 35 years with Orlando Health in the antepartum special care unit.
Anita Drummond is associate general counsel at the American Cancer Society.
1983
1989
Vincent Cotroneo celebrated his 25th year broadcasting major league baseball. This year marks his 12th season as an announcer for the Oakland Athletics.
Richard Caron joined Greenberg Traurig’s corporate and securities practice in Orlando.
1974 Robert Ryan recently retired after 36 years as a pilot with Southwest Airlines. He previously served seven years with the U.S. Air Force.
Jospeh Uzel retired from Northrop Grumman.
1980
Deborah Woodward is an instructor in the UCF Department of Criminal Justice.
Lois Horn-Diaz ’85MS ’89EdS was named 2017 Polk County Teacher of the Year. She teaches gifted students at R. Bruce Wagner Elementary in Lakeland, FL.
Jeffrey Stokes opened a new wealth management office for BNY Mellon in Winter Park, FL.
1975
1981
1987
Douglas “Todd” Hyder retired after 28 years with Philips Healthcare in Bothell, WA.
Rosemary (Mahoney) George retired after 35 years as a nurse with Florida Hospital. She is now a licensed massage therapist in Altamonte Springs, FL.
Chris Gent was elected chairman of the Kissimmee/Osceola County Chamber of Commerce. He is vice president for corporate communications for the Kissimmee Utility Authority.
James Smith Jr. was re-elected to the board of Cross Bridge Church in Rockledge, FL.
1976 Charles Grist won first place in the published mystery category of the 2016 Royal Palm Literary Awards for The Perdiccas Scroll, which he wrote under the pen name John Marling March.
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Robert Rice served 30 years in the cardiac intensive care unit at Florida Hospital. He is now a rapid-response nurse at Florida Hospital South. Shawn Smith retired after 39 years with UPS.
Allison (Langston) Tuppeny ’10CNS co-authored a chapter for the sixth edition of Core Curriculum for Neuroscience Nursing.
Alison Graham published the article “Going to the Gemba Strengthens Interdepartmental Teamwork” in American Nurse Today.
1992 Michael Fairo will celebrate 20 years with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles this year. He is a recall administration analyst. David Jacob is a regional science coordinator for Westchester County in New York.
1995 Melissa Hazelwood ’97MBA is the vice president of property management for the Orlando office of real estate firm Franklin Street.
P EGASUS
2002
2007
Katie Coleman is the global director of public relations at Subway world headquarters.
Thomas Bolick is the director of development and major gifts for Orlando Regional Medical Center.
John and Rosanne Watson ’00 Field opened a Painting with a Twist franchise in east Orlando.
Peter Martinsen launched Peter H. Martinsen CPA in Palm Beach Gardens, FL.
Karla Garrido-Muniz was elected chair of the board of directors for the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metro Orlando.
Kristen Weinbaum opened Precision Hearing, an audiology practice in Clermont, FL.
Casey Woodling was named a Fulbright scholar and is lecturing and conducting research at the University of Antananarivo in Madagascar.
2003 Erika (Phifer) Spence was promoted to vice president of the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce.
2004 Adam Gerber is director of sales and marketing at Aladdin Travel Services in Alpharetta, GA.
2005 Katrina (Priore) de Leon is a business development manager at Gravitational Marketing.
2006 Krista (Peckyno) Thompson was awarded the FedEx Five Star Award — the highest employee honor — for her innovation, collaboration and success in the FedEx Supply Chain legal department. Eric Risser is chief technology officer and founder of Artomatix, an artificial intelligence company based in Dublin.
In Memoriam Linda Cheatum ’71 died February 13, 2017.
Wayne Stevens ’79 died June 16, 2016. Susan Christopher ’89MA died March 18, 2017. Tara Young ’11 died March 16, 2017.
2008 Ricky Ly was inducted into the Orlando Sentinel’s Culinary Hall of Fame. Ly launched the Orlando food blog Tasty Chomps in 2008, wrote Food Lovers’ Guide to Orlando and has been featured on ABC’s “The Chew.”
2009 Linda Abernathy is vice president of operations at Physicians Partners of America. Ale’ta Turner was named one of the Top 20 under 40 Influential Young People in Jacksonville, FL, by the Florida Black Pages.
2010 Chris Castro was named one of the 2017 Grist 50, which recognizes “exceptional people working toward a sustainable world.” Alicia Nieves is a general assignment reporter for the Eyewitness News team of CBS 3 in Philadelphia. Kevin Sutliff wrote, directed and produced the feature film The Mason Brothers, which debuted in April.
Will Wight ’13MFA is a fantasy writer whose books include the Traveler’s Gate trilogy, the Elder Empire cycle and the Cradle series.
2011 Wendy (Piesco) Fisher is an attorney for the Serene Harbor domestic violence center in Palm Bay, FL.
2012 Colleen Kelleher is the operations excellence manager at The RitzCarlton, Amelia Island, FL. Jessica Lomasson is a senior copywriter at VaynerMedia. Cynthia Morales is a behavioral health clinical coordinator with the Washington Physicians Health Program. Rey Ortega is CEO of Grata Software, a technology consulting business in Orlando.
2014 Andrew Maratta is a zoning code specialist for Orange County government.
2015 Mohammed Al-marri and Fahad Salamh participated in a national cybersecurity contest in Saudi Arabia and were ranked in the top 20 out of 500 participants. Ryan Neimes is a budget analyst for the U.S. Air Force. Anna Shrayer is a staff accountant at James Moore & Co. in Daytona Beach, FL.
2016 Nancy Mae Carlos is an administrative assistant with the Jacksonville City Council.
2013
Nicole Hammer was appointed to the board of trustees for the International Quidditch Association.
April Heyward was selected as one of 44 leaders to participate in the 10th Midlands Class of the Riley Institute Diversity Leaders Initiative at Furman University.
Sameer Jagani traveled to Syria with a British humanitarian aid group earlier this year and raised more than $50,000 for Syrian widows and orphans through crowdfunding.
Brianna LaBarge is an engineer at Nike in Portland, OR.
Anthony Lupoli is a staff accountant at Keyes, Stange & Wooten CPA Firm.
Jeannetta Maxena teaches world history at Carver Middle School in Leesburg, FL.
Alana Siceloff is an account coordinator at B2 Communications in St. Petersburg, FL.
William Nolan is vice president, commercial lines leader and operations officer for Hylant, an insurance and risk management consulting firm.
John Tormos is a retired engineer firefighter and emergency medical technician for the city of Orlando.
Former UCF history professor Jerrell Shofner died April 11, 2017. Shofner joined UCF in 1972 and was chair of the history department for 19 years. An avid researcher and historian, he published 15 books — the 16th will be published posthumously — and served as president of the Florida Historical Society.
Max Wolfgang is a mechanical engineer at Gencor Industries in Orlando.
Former UCF Provost and Professor Emeritus Gary Whitehouse died March 31, 2017. Whitehouse joined UCF in 1978 as a professor and chair of the industrial engineering department. He served as provost for 10 years before returning to teach and conduct research in UCF’s Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems.
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Weddings & Births Elyse Schneider ’97 married Jarrod Curtis on October 26, 2016.
Stephanie Dean ’09 married Adam Lang ’10 on October 28, 2016.
Nathan Townsend ’00 and wife Ashley welcomed Preston on February 23, 2017.
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Brooke Goldberg ’09 married Andrew Eisenberg ’10 on March 5, 2017.
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Kerry (Costa) ’01 and Jonathon Edge welcomed Jacob Riley on July 1, 2016.
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Vicki Martin ’09 married Greg Rayser ’09 on July 2, 2016.
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Danielle (Barnhart) ’02 and Christopher Cantrell ’02 welcomed Kendall Raine on September 14, 2016.
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Allyson Smith ’09 married Jonah Brassard on May 29, 2016.
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Caryn (Greenberg) ’02 and Michael Drew ’98 welcomed Camden on January 1, 2017.
Gavin Britto ’10 married Liesle Biggs on December 17, 2016.
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Manny Amores ’04 and wife Angela welcomed Sofia Penelope on November 22, 2016.
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Tiffany (Levine) ’04 and Sean Griffin ’07 welcomed Cole on December 1, 2016. Jeff Myers ’04 and Christa Morency welcomed Charlie Edward on February 19, 2017.
Janelle Middents ’10 married Ronald Hom on November 5, 2016. Brandon Ratay ’10 married Francini Valverde on March 17, 2017.
Angela Cordisco ’05 married Jeffrey Bouley on November 26, 2016.
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Rosemarie (Cogswell) ’11 and Keiron Timothy ’12 welcomed Emma Rose on January 15, 2017.
Claudia (Mora) ’05 and Travis Kremer ’06 welcomed Hanna Blaire on November 27, 2016.
Brittany Davies ’11 married Kevin Firestone ’11 on November 25, 2016.
Alicia Bock ’06 married Dustin Hatch on February 25, 2017.
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Aaryn Corbett ’06 married Stephen Matejcik on October 7, 2016.
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Amber Heyna ’10 married Aaron Allen ’13 on May 28, 2016.
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Katherine Fox ’11 married Marc-Andre Lavoie ’13 on November 13, 2016.
Natalie Hair ’11 married Kyle Burnett ’13 on October 22, 2016.
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Laura (Kern) ’06 and Matt Scott ’08 welcomed Jaxon on February 1, 2017.
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Camellia Park ’11 married Thomas Paterson on June 11, 2016.
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Krista (Peckyno) ’06 and Brandon Thompson welcomed Nico Orlando on July 28, 2016.
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Cristina (Ramos) ’11 and Nicholas Bruno ’11 welcomed Cohen Knight on March 12, 2017.
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Heather (Brooks) ’07 and Ed Franklin welcomed Summer Rey on August 4, 2016.
Kayla Torpey ’11 married Kevin Stanley ’09 on October 14, 2016.
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Mark Goykham ’07 and wife Melissa welcomed George Patrick on November 12, 2016.
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Adam Adelman ’12 married Deynna Dragustinovis on November 19, 2016.
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Lindsey (Johnson) ’07 and Todd Bryant welcomed Cambrie Ava on November 17, 2016.
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Stephanie (Carbone) ’12 and Steven Bolyard ’08 welcomed Parker on November 13, 2016.
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Annie (Fleming) ’08 and Michael O’Donnell ’07 welcomed Addison Michelle on January 4, 2017.
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Emily Killgore ’12 married Hoyt Bochy on November 12, 2016.
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Jennifer Jones ’08 married Stephen Cefalu on November 12, 2016.
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Laura Schmitt ’12 married Diego Camiro ’12 on November 4, 2016.
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Elizabeth Phillips ’08 married Daniel Pellito on July 30, 2016.
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Stephanie Sheppard ’12 married Gregory Odierno ’10 on January 7, 2017.
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Melissa Billington ’13 married Daniel Waite on November 26, 2016.
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Jessica (Ruby) ’13 and Blake Levine ’11 welcomed Lucy Belle on December 28, 2016.
Joanne Agosto ’14 married Joshua Hernandez on October 23, 2016. 31
Ayana Campbell ’14 married Charles Smith ’16 on August 7, 2016.
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Lauren Chrisman ’14 married Matthew George on June 24, 2016.
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Amanda Coultas ’14 married Ryan Kummer ’12 on December 31, 2016.
Emily Drew ’14 married Carlos Arrastia on October 8, 2016. 34
Haley Garland ’14 married Jason Baker on February 6, 2017.
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Melanie Rodriguez ’14 married Michael Toribio ’15 on July 9, 2016.
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Andrea Zollman ’14 married Bryan Simkanich ’13 on August 20, 2016.
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Kaila Cunningham ’15 married Tyrie Carter ’14 on December 19, 2016.
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Jessica Frometa ’15 married William Johnson on December 20, 2016.
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Lindsey Tyson ’15 married Drew Obermeier ’16 on December 17, 2016.
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Jessica Berlin ’16 married Jordan Hamner on July 17, 2016. 40
Karla Thomas ’16 married Anil Bozan ’12 on April 2, 2016.
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Ramy Abdelhady ’17 and Walaa Ahmed welcomed Lojina on August 16, 2016. 41
Joy Derrick ’17 married Nathan Sellers on July 23, 2016.
BRACE YOURSELVES.
HOMECOMING IS COMING. OCTOBER 9–15, 2017 ucfalumni.com/homecoming
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P EGASUS
ALUMNI AUTHORS Ralph Souders ’73 wrote Ursula’s Shadow, a suspense thriller that takes place in Munich. Suzan Zan ’91 wrote Overcoming the Underhanded: The True Story of a Life Reclaimed, which chronicles a woman’s 15-year marriage and the three-year journey to break free from her mentally abusive husband. Bruce Lea ’96 ’01MA wrote It’s Just that Simple…: Weight Loss, Workouts & Wellness for the Overweight & Obese. Steve Cushman ’99 wrote Hopscotch, a novel about the healing power of hope and how the simplest things can affect and change lives for the better.
Jen Glantz ’10 wrote Always a Bridesmaid (for Hire), a collection of stories about walking down the aisle for strangers as a hired bridesmaid. Esther (Michaud) Clervaud ’10MAT wrote Cultural Awareness: An Implementation Guide, which provides organizations with a solution on how to increase cultural awareness around the world. Jaroslav Kalfar ’11 wrote Spaceman of Bohemia, an intergalactic odyssey of love, ambition and self-discovery. Isabel Cavaliere-Enriquez ’13 wrote My Tennis Coach: My Bully, a young adult novel about a tennis player who is bullied by her coach.
Matthew Laurence ’06 wrote Freya, a young adult fantasy novel about a girl who was an ancient Norse goddess.
What’s your favorite plant from Middle-earth and why? My favorite plant to illustrate for the book was the Linden because picturing the silhouettes of the hobbits entwined in Aragorn’s story as they await the attack of the Black Riders is both fun and visually enchanting.
Gino Perrotte ’08MA wrote From Student to Professional: An Essential Communication Soft Skills Guide for Aspiring STEM Professionals.
Ismael Brown ’14 wrote My Own Worst Enemy (A Black Man’s American Story), which chronicles the experiences of a young man looking to discover himself despite many challenges.
Wendy Whitman Cobb ’06 ’07MA wrote The Politics of Cancer: Malignant Indifference, a nonfiction book that examines the role of government and politicians in cancer research efforts and policy decisions.
DRAWING MIDDLE-EARTH UCF art alum Graham Judd ’09 co-wrote and illustrated Flora of Middle-Earth: Plants of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Legendarium with his father Walter S. Judd, a botanist and distinguished professor emeritus of biology at the University of Florida. The book is a detailed account of the more than 160 plants found in Tolkien’s fictional universe and includes original hand-drawn, woodcutstyle illustrations by Graham. How did this project come about? This project was the brainchild of my father and me for quite a long time. As we are both massive fans of Tolkien’s world, it only felt natural to use our skills to create something we were both passionate about.
What has been the most interesting part of illustrating Middle-earth? I remember watching an episode of the X-Files as a kid that takes place in Ecuador, and my dad told me as a brief aside that those plants were native to the L.A. area — not the jungles of South America. It completely sucked me out of the narrative. After working on this book, I finally understand our cultural blindness to plants. People don’t really pay attention to how a pine tree’s branches are different from a fir tree’s, and before this project I didn’t either. Things that used to feel needlessly descriptive now enrich my imagination.
What’s it like to bring Tolkien’s universe to life visually? Challenging. Tolkien’s world has been depicted in movies and cartoons as well as board and video games. Trying to illustrate something that is so cherished and well-defined is intimidating at best. In the illustrations, I worked to define concepts and events more than details, leaving room for the viewer’s imagination to create definition.
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Pegasus Class Notes P.O. Box 160046 Orlando, FL 32816-0046
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Why I ...
BY WANDA RAIMUNDI-ORTIZ
ILLUSTRATIONS BY OLAF HAJEK
I am not your queen. As the daughter of working-class Puerto Rican immigrants who were not afforded the opportunity of education, I am driven far more by reclamation than subjugation. My mother arrived in this country from Puerto Rico in the ’50s when she was 20 with one baby on her hip and another on the way. She was not allowed to learn how to read or write, since she was told that going to school was for boys. Somehow, my parents survived, dare I say, thrived, despite the odds. They bore seven successful, formally educated children. My mother’s stories, my family history, could not be documented by her own hand. Without her, there would be no me, no radical art, no queens, no court. My mother always told me, “You aren’t better than anyone else, but no one is better than you, either.” Her words — undocumented, unrecorded — influence how I view the world and everything I do. I am a Puerto Rican, American, academic, artist, troublemaker, observer, Bronx chick transplant. Part social experimenter, part shaman, part trickster, I am a storyteller of my own narratives. Yo soy una reina. I do not, however, claim to speak for anyone else. I simply share my truths, hoping to build bridges and fill gaps between the communities that I traverse.
This is why I transform myself into archetypal queens anchored in traumas and anxieties that I am pretty sure other people share. I am the Bargain Basement Sovereign, facing adversity with resilience and poise. Yo soy Guerrille Reina, a Warrior Queen, surviving domestic violence to become hyper-vigilant and defensive. Yo soy Porcela Reina, a Porcelain Queen, coming to terms with my own frailty during pregnancy. Yo soy Gringa Reina, the White-Girl Queen, grappling with stifling Eurocentric beauty standards. As all of these queens, I aim to unravel the nuances of these anxieties that, to a larger extent, affect the world in which we live. The royal court I’ve created is where I turn for wisdom, comfort, support and restoration. Here, too, is where I process, scrutinize and untangle those anxieties. It is (arguably) cheaper than therapy. I wear my anxieties like a crown, exposing myself and speaking my truths, hoping that my vulnerability connects with someone else and offers them, at the very least, some comfort that they are not alone. These concerns are not singular to me. My biggest unease concerns my son, mi heredero. In this country, his brown skin makes him more vulnerable. His body becomes a target, something to be broken — his life something too easily stolen, like Trayvon, Sandra, Michael, Philandro, Tamir and the young people at Pulse. This violence keeps happening and happening and happening.
I do not want this unrest to be his only narrative. I want his story, as I want the stories of all the “other” people in America, to be his own. I want to shield him. I want to protect us. I know I cannot. I can, however, channel my fears and anxiety of losing a child to hatred into my work. As sovereign and artist, I can create a chance, if only for a little while, to grieve together for our bodies that are always at risk, simply for existing. Through my latest project, Pietà, I cradled 33 people of color in my arms, as Mary cradled the body of her dead son, Jesus. I can hold a mirror up to the inconsistency in our society that fuels unjust situations and yields unjustified repercussions. Their lives will not be erased, nor will the lives of my son or mom. My reign is an extension of them, of us, and my presence ensures their continuation, even after I am gone. As queen, I am compelled to break the barrier between sovereign and subject. My sovereignty is over my story and the stories of my family who did not have the language or agency to write their own narratives. Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz is an assistant professor of art at UCF and a nationally and internationally recognized, award-winning interdisciplinary visual and performance artist. Her recent Reinas project, Pietà, was featured at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery as part of the performance art series Identify.
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Student Government Association Chief of Staff Brad Kuehler and Vice President Cristina Barreto stopped by while the mural was in progress to add a few brush strokes and take some photos.
TAKING FLIGHT For the Arts Issue, we not only wanted to showcase the exciting work being created by the UCF community, but also to bring some of it to the heart of campus. This new 40’x 12’ mural of Pegasus in flight, painted by local artist Boy Kong, is located next to the main entrance of the Student Union. To see more photos and a video of the mural in progress, visit ucf.edu/pegasus.