Volume 128 Issue 56
utdailybeacon.com @utkdailybeacon
Thursday, April 9, 2015
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WEIRD WACKY WONDERFUL
The Daily Beacon • Thursday, April 9, 2015
Dear reader,
Have you heard the story about the time UT students amassed on the Strip, “stripped” off their clothes and ran down a street probably just as ugly/convenient as it is now? Or the one about the guy who directed Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart — and got UT’s theater named after him? What about the staff-carrying genie who promises to read your oracle cards? Heard of him? Knoxville and the university have got some crazy stuff going on. When our editorial staff was assembling this issue, we scoured Daily Beacon archives, Knoxville blogs and historical records. We asked our friends and family and actually used social media successfully to find ideas. What we uncovered was surprising and interesting and so much better than we expected. Throughout this issue, you’ll find little tidbits and quirks about Knoxville you never knew existed. They are the things that make Knoxville special, the things that make our love/hate relationship with the city worth the struggle at the end of the day. The long walks to class uphill both ways dodging drunk football fans and construction and terrible drivers in an ice storm when the humidity is making it feel like 100 degrees — can occasionally feel a little endearing. Like a little brother we frequently want to give a noogie to. On these pages, you’ll see a different kind of Knoxville start to form, one with
magical, exciting characters and hidden places you’ve yet to discover. Growing up in Knoxville, I forget to appreciate how great it is here, how much I like the coffee shops, the music, the bars, the people. But when I graduate in May, I know I’ll miss my scruffy little city — a place always trying to do better for itself and its people, even if it makes mistakes along the way. This issue is a handy reminder of all that is cool and mysterious and, dare I say, unconventional. Make the most of this city while you’re here. Make the most of the small moments walking by that statue that shall not be named. Appreciate all the walking even though it’s most likely not the only exercise you needed to get toned calves or lose the freshman 15, no matter what the tour guides told you. These years will be over before you know it, and you’ll never get the chance to sleep late and arrive 45 minutes late to your math final, sweating and crying actual tears when the professor graciously lets you take it in anyway (I haven’t done that). Welcome to our Knoxville: weird, wacky and most of all, wonderful.
Claire Dodson is a senior in English and the editor-in-chief of The Daily Beacon. She can be reached at pdodson@vols.utk.edu.
THE DAILY BEACON STAFF
EDITORIAL
Editor-in-Chief: Claire Dodson Managing Editor: Hanna Lustig Chief Copy Editor: Emilee Lamb, Cortney Roark News Editor: Hayley Brundige Asst. News Editor: Bradi Musil Special Projects Editor: Liv McConnell Sports Editor: Jonathan Toye Asst. Sports Editor: Taylor White Arts & Culture Editor: Jenna Butz Online Editor: Kevin Ridder Asst. Online Editor: Cara Sanders Photo Editor: Hannah Cather, Esther Choo Design Editor: Katrina Roberts, Lauren Ratliff Social Media Editor: Alexandra Chiasson Copy Editors: Jordan Achs, Savannah Gilman, Tanner Hancock, Heidi Hill, Hannah Moulton, Faith Schweikert Editorial Production: Reid Hartsell, Justin Keyes, Teron Nunley, Alexis Porten, Steven Woods Training Editor: R.J. Vogt
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WEIRD WACKY WONDERFUL
Thursday, April 9, 2015 • The Daily Beacon
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Shaman inspires individuality, spiritualism Liv McConnell
Special Projects Editor Is your spirit that of a mermaid? Maybe it resembles a fairy, or perhaps you’re a tree spirit? For anyone who has ever questioned the characteristics of their mystical makeup, Knoxville’s very own self-proclaimed genie may have the answer. Known simply as “Zeus,” the spiritual guru long ago developed the distinction of being Knoxville’s only resident commonly seen sporting flowing robes, a genie
lamp and carrying an artfully festooned staff around town. “He had a staff, and I was like, ‘Who the hell carries a staff around the Old City?’” Klay Willyn, junior in anthropology, said. “I thought he looked really cool, because he looked different.” Zeus returned to his birthplace of Knoxville after spending most of his adolescence in North Carolina and a little of it in Japan, where his military father was stationed. “My life has been a journey,” Zeus said. “I’ve worked many different jobs dishwashing and cleaning buildings. I’ve done so much of that.” After being called by God to switch vocations, he now makes his living selling handmade jewelry crafted from old silverware, wire, green glass and stones. The stones all carry his genie blessing, he said, and bring good fortune and protection to the wearer. “I started making jewelry and making staffs and making rings,” he said. “God gave me my full potential
“It’s something to be highly valued and praised, and you can do great things.
Even if you’re unconventionally awesome, you’re still awesome.” -- Klay Willyn
Zeus is Knoxville’s self-proclaimed genie. Hannah Cather • The Daily Beacon
as to what I can do. I’m a master mason. That’s how I’m able to make and design all of this without anyone teaching me — it’s already in me from a past life.” Zeus can be found on weekends and most weeknights selling his wares at Preservation Pub, where he occupies his own nook under the first floor stairwell. His stack of oracle cards is sure to be close at ring bedecked hand, and for a donation, he’ll read yours. Commonly confused for tarot cards, oracle cards follow a more free-form structure. Ask Zeus any question about yourself or future you desire, and the cards will reveal the blueprint of an answer. More likely than not, he’ll also disclose your characteristic essence in the spirit world, a gift he says he’s always had. “It’s always been there, but I think around 13 or 14 is when I started identifying as a genie,” he said. “I knew I was different. I’m in a human body, but I’m a genie for God. There’s a type of angel that serves the Lord and serves Christ.” Although Zeus does believe in the Trinity and wears most of his jewelry in sets of three to symbolize that creed, he does not subscribe to one religion. With business cards identifying him as a “Spiritual Adviser” and
“Prophet,” he has a universalistic approach to spirituality. “People always ask me what religion I represent,” Zeus said. “(The answer is) the universe; there is no title, no labels. The universe is open, and I think that’s the way God is. God is everything.” His attunement with the spirit world is a gift from God, he said, and one that he uses to achieve his “special thrill” of helping others. “That’s what I’m here for, to help others, to teach love and to spread love,” he said. “I like to use what God has given to me to the highest good—to awaken people to who they truly are and to bring hope to people who think they don’t have any.” Beyond spreading love, acceptance and awareness, Willyn believes Zeus has the ability to teach people in Knoxville yet another important concept—originality. “I think he makes people feel like it’s okay to be completely outrageous and out there and that it’s not something to be ashamed of or scorned,” Willyn said. “It’s something to be highly valued and praised, and you can do great things. “Even if you’re unconventionally awesome, you’re still awesome.”
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WEIRD WACKY WONDERFUL
The Daily Beacon • Thursday, April 9, 2015
X Geocaching: modern take on classic hunt, adventure Hannah Moulton Copy Editor
When I decided to write this “I tried it,” I had no idea what geocaching was. So, naturally, I went to Google. What I found was a whole community of people around the world that hunt and hide tiny containers, known as “caches.” Using a GPS app and starting an account with geocaching.com, you can locate and track caches in your area. Caches aren’t in close proximity to each other, so you have to drive to most of them and follow the dot on your GPS. The only downside to the GPS is that it doesn’t talk, so you actually have to pay attention to what direction you’re going in and what road you’re on. Once you get within 30 feet of the cache, the app alerts you. It is then up to you to locate the cache without the help of the GPS. “So it’s like hunting for treasure,” I thought. My first find was fun and slightly terrifying. I parked under the James White Parkway Bridge and scaled the rocky edge of the river. After a few strange looks from a man fishing, I returned to the gravel parking lot. I then discovered the app gives you a
description of where the cache might be. It’s like solving a really cryptic riddle. I was so excited when I found my first one; and no, I won’t tell you where it is. That’s the fun of geocaching. However, I was slightly disappointed my first cache didn’t contain any gold or rubies. Instead, it had a tiny scroll of paper where you could sign your name. I came to learn this was the case with most caches. I didn’t find dice or paper clips like others had reportedly found at other locations, just tiny pieces of paper. What I eventually came to realize, though, was it’s not what is in the cache that makes geocaching fun. It’s act of finding the cache itself. Of the four geocaches I pursued, I could only actually find three. The Old City cache was to remain elusive. After parking in a tow-away zone, climbing through a ditch and almost jumping a fence (luckily, I found a way around it), I gave up when a tour group walked past me as I was circling a streetlight. In spite of getting odd looks and risking getting my vehicle being towed, geocaching was fun. It afforded me a sense of adventure I hadn’t had in a while. It was like being a kid going on a scavenger hunt — only, this scavenger hunt is slightly dangerous if you go alone or at night. I recommend everyone try geocaching at least once.
Hollywood treasures hide in Hoskins Library Liv McConnell
Special Projects Editor Deep within the recesses of the James D. Hoskins Library is a trove of Old Hollywood memorabilia so vast and yet so forgotten, it would make Indiana Jones salivate. Meet the Clarence Brown collection. Most remembered for being the namesake benefactor of UT’s acclaimed theater company, Clarence Brown’s life story is as rich and complex as the assortment of scripts, photographs and mementos he donated to the university upon his death in 1987 at the age of 97. Before he was a legendary film director who Greta Garbo dubbed her personal favorite, and before he became UT’s second largest benefactor after the Haslams, Clarence Brown was just a kid growing up in Knoxville at the turn of the 20th century. “He was a short, sweet little guy and they called him ‘Shorty’ or something like that,” Charlie Brakebill, a 90-year-old former director of student life at UT, said. “He was brighter than most; he wouldn’t say that, but you can conclude. He graduated old Knoxville High School and was given special permission to come to UT at 15.” After graduating from UT at 19 years old with two engineering degrees, one in electrical and one in mechanical, he moved to Birmingham, Alabama to work for a car dealership. Suddenly, as if overnight, the chameleonlike Brown channeled his engineering abilities into film production around 1913, and one of the only directors to successfully transition from silent films to talkies emerged. He led an esteemed career, directing the likes of Garbo, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart and more. His films garnered a total of 38 Academy Award nominations, winning nine, and Brown himself receiving six nominations. “He was ahead of his time in so many ways, and he said that a lot of what he was able to accomplish was because of his engineering degrees from UT and what he learned about working with people in East Tennessee,” said Brakebill, who came to know Brown as an intimate friend later in life. It was partially because of his fond memories of Tennessee that Brown came to gift UT with not only the $11 million needed for the theater’s creation, but also piles of material documenting his personal and professional life. “We’ve got one of the greatest collections in the world of the movie (business),” Brakebill
said. “If someone put a gun to my head, I’d probably say the collection should have gone to UCLA because of their major programs in film. “It probably doesn’t deserve to be at the University of Tennessee, but it’s there.” UT Special Collections Research Specialist Bill Eigelsbach said a collection of Clarence Brown’s size and caliber is rare among universities. “It’s a very large collection, probably 100 or something boxes total,” Eigelsbach said. “There are few universities that have a large collection relating to a major Hollywood film director. Most of it ends up in California.” The contents of the collection range from Brown’s self-annotated movie scripts and birth certificate to personalized ashtrays from Louis B. Mayer’s wife, Lorena. Personal tokens, like two scrapbooks of photos taken at his California ranch, show glimpses into the often-enigmatic man’s private life. “You can see the interior of the house and the way it looked when he lived there, and that’s one thing you really don’t think about when you think of directors,” he said. “You think about their films, not their personal things.” Other items hint at Brown’s unexpectedly eclectic interests outside of film. A small Deputy Flight logbook, for instance, details several years’ worth of flights he underwent as a member of the civil air patrol in the 1930s. “If you got lost in the mountains, they’d call the civil air patrol and he was one of the people who would be flying and searching for people,” Eigelsbach said. “You don’t think of a guy who was probably a multimillionaire at that time being the one to fly the plane and search for people.” Some of the documents attest to his time in the air force in World War I. Other items, like an artist’s rendering of Brown done on black velvet in 1937, posses a quirkier personality, while casting directories and personal correspondence provide a wealth of information about the Golden Age of cinema. As surprising as Brown’s own personality and interests often were, Eigelsbach believes many students would be equally surprised to learn of the collection’s existence at the library. “I feel like people might be surprised, but people are always surprised when they hear who directed ‘Anna Karenina,’ ‘National Velvet’ and all these other big movies,” he said. “Brown himself is relatively unknown to a degree, as compared to other directors who directed lesser important films than he did. He was so private.”
WEIRD WACKY WONDERFUL
Seven people you probably didn’t know lived in Knoxville Megan Patterson Staff Writer
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Christina Hendricks: The actress known for her role as Joan Harris in AMC’s“Mad Men”was born in Knoxville on May 3, 1975. Inspired by the novel“Anne of Green Gables,”Hendricks began dying her hair its signature red color at age 10. Nominated for five Emmys, Hendricks has been credited with bringing back the hourglass figure.
Nikki Giovanni: The poet grew up in Ohio but returned to her birthplace of Knoxville in 1958 to attend Austin High School.Her experiences in the southern education system provided fuel for her works centered on the civil rights movement.Giovanni currently claims the Rosa L.Parks Women of Courage Award and is a Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech.
Rodney Atkins: This country music superstar was born in Knoxville and grew up in neighboring Claiborne County, where he played his guitar at local festivals and events throughout his time at Powell Valley High School from 19831987.Atkins has since produced six No.1 hits and won Top New Male Vocalist in 2006 from the Academy of Country Music.
Kurt Vonnegut: This celebrated counterculture author and intellectual was sent to the University of Tennessee by the U.S.Army to study mechanical engineering during WWII.Vonnegut went on to master thought-provoking, satirical science fiction with the publication of“Cat’s Cradle”and“Slaughterhouse-Five,”among others.
Mary Costa: The singer and actress who gave a voice to the beloved Disney princess Aurora, better known as Sleeping Beauty, first gave a voice to her hometown’s church choir in Knoxville.Costa went on to shine in the Knoxville High School chorus before relocating to Los Angeles in her early teens, where she lived happily ever after.
Mary Boyce Temple: As one of Knoxville’s most influential philanthropists and socialites,Temple gave a voice to countless social and cultural movements.She launched Knoxville’s historic preservationist movement with her fight to preserve Blount Mansion in the 1920s and established the Tennessee Women’s Press and the Knox County chapter of the League of Women Voters.
Jake Butcher: This financial tycoon cultivated a crooked banking empire throughout East Tennessee before running as the Democratic candidate for governor in 1978.Butcher helped to bring the 1982 World’s Fair to Knoxville and built the Plaza Tower, which remains Knoxville’s highest building, before being charged and convicted with bank fraud in 1985.
Thursday, April 9, 2015 • The Daily Beacon
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World’s Fair mummy sparked controversy McCord Pagan
Staff Writer Since the last visitor left the 1982 World’s Fair, the six-month event has become part of Knoxville’s identity. The Sunsphere, created for the fair, now symbolizes the city itself, and World’s Fair Park can nearly always be found full of visitors on summer days. But what many Knoxvillians may not remember is a mummy. On July 29, 1982, a mummy dating to before Incan civilization was unwrapped slowly by 13 scientists on the stage of the Tennessee Amphitheatre in a ceremony attended by the Peruvian ambassador to the U.S. and nearly 450 onlookers. Inside the mummy wrap was a 2-year-old Native American child, buried with a jewel on their forehead, along with three tunics, jewelry and small figurines. An Associated Press article from July 30, 1982 quotes a Peruvian archaeologist, Arturo Jiménez, as saying the child likely died about 600 to 800 years prior. Many Native American groups and archaeologists expressed outrage before the event, saying the remains were being deliberately disrespected.
While the National Congress of American Indians did not follow through with a threat to protest the event, news reports prior to the unwrapping quote the then-director, Ronald Andrade, saying the event was in “very, very, very poor manners.” “I don’t think they would find a body in white civilization and put it on display,” Andrade said at the time. “I’d like to see the burial remains of Wild Bill Hickok or George Custer on display.” “They are doing this just for the pure publicity sake of it,” Andrade said. “This is nothing but a sideshow.” Much of the criticism against the unwrapping the mummy, which was returned to Peru at the fair’s conclusion, was that the process was unscientific and done merely to attract visitors. “It wasn’t research, it was kind of a carnival show,” said Steve Cotham, McClung Museum Collection manager and a historian at the East Tennessee Historical Society. Cotham visited the fair several times that year and remembers the unwrapping of the mummy as “bizarre.” “It was probably not a good idea to start with,” he said. “It’s the same thing as Native Americans in this country not wanting their ancestor’s bones on display.”
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WEIRD WACKY WONDERFUL
The Daily Beacon • Thursday, April 9, 2015
Gaming tables have turned
Tabletop Gaming Club forms bonds over board games Sterling Martin Staff Writer
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” These words, spoken by Albert Einstein, are echoed today by the members of UT’s Tabletop Gaming Club. As the university’s premiere student organization for devotees of role-playing fantasy and trading card games, club members bond over a shared love of Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, Warhammer 40,000, Settlers of Catan, Tales and Legends, Vanguard and other similar games. Tyler Latham, junior in political science, founded the Tabletop Gaming Club three years ago. “We are always welcoming new people, and I mean anybody,” Latham said. “If you don’t know what you’re doing, come in and we’ll teach you how to do it. If you literally just have an interest, get in here.” Some club members participate in numerous games simultaneously, playing on two or even three boards at a time, and there isn’t a strict guideline for which games are played on which meeting day. “We meet twice a week, every Tuesday and Thursday at 7 p.m.,” Latham said. “Tuesdays are generally dedicated to trading card games. You’ve got Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh!, stuff like that.
Thursdays, we do board games and RPGs.” Despite having no class on the Friday of spring recess, the club still met Thursday night to celebrate the end of a month-long Dungeons & Dragons tournament with pizza, desserts and other party necessities. Dungeons & Dragons is a role-playing game that works on a dice-based system. Each player has a character sheet, with their selected character’s “core attributes” written down, simply gauged by a number. These core attributes are the character in a nutshell and range from strength to wisdom and from dexterity to charisma. One of the many objectives is to gain enough total experience points from battle in order to levelup your character. This, in turn, makes the character more powerful. For example, a level one rogue (thief) or a wizard or a monk will be given a task like picking a lock. Depending on the numbers rolled, height of a core attribute, level and damage or “hit points” of a character, they may or may not pick the lock. If the attempt is successful, the player will gain experience points, among other things. That is one of the countless variations of Dungeons & Dragons. Everyone has his or her preferences, though, which is why the club doesn’t limit themselves to one type of game per meeting. “I don’t really like card games,” said Tom Forrest, senior in mathematics and TGC member. “I really
like tabletop board games. Every odd Tuesday, it’s my campaign, which is this really cool sci-fi universe called BattleTech.” Forrest added that he enjoys playing a more wellknown game, Warhammer 40k. “It’s all about taking an army of models and using the rules of the game and moving them around, exercising tactics and strategies to shoot the other guy off the table,” he said. Although the game may seem difficult or even foreign to a newcomer, club members are always willing to teach or explain. “I got into the club because I was looking for people with a like mind,” Forrest added. The TGC was created to give people a time and place to enjoy their hobbies with friends, which is what these sorts of games achieve at their core — initiate and provoke social bonds and relationships. Gaining popularity in recent years, tabletop games are enjoyed by more students than just those in the club. “I like playing Dominion because you can use different strategies to win,” said Ryan Sayne, sophomore in mechanical engineering who enjoys playing the card game in his downtime with friends. “You don’t have to collect playing cards or anything like that. You start out the game with five coins, and then you can use those to buy whatever cards you want in the game. “Everyone isn’t doing the same thing like Monopoly, where it’s just a game of luck, but everyone has the same chance of winning.”
WEIRD WACKY WONDERFUL
Thursday, April 9, 2015 • The Daily Beacon
Knoxville flips for flapjacks Hannah Cather
Photo Editor A thin layer of syrup covers Melody Ratliff’s kitchen floor. She’s a petite woman with bouncy curls; her 1899 Victorian home has a bright green front door. There are forks scattered in the front yard and coffee cups forgotten on the shelves in the study. Ratliff makes herself a simple, two-topping pancake, grabs the last of the coffee and joins the remaining crowd on the sunlit front porch. It’s 2 p.m. and the end of another successful Flip’s Batter Bar breakfast. In January 2012, Ratliff and her husband, Spencer, were looking for pancake toppings for their guests’ breakfast one day. They found chocolate and butterscotch chips and searched for other mixings. Their pantry raid sparked the question, “Why hasn’t anyone done a make-your-own pancake place yet?” She remembers telling her friends that night about the idea she had. They encouraged her to pursue it. “‘No, this is actually a good idea,’” Melody Ratliff recalled them saying. “‘You should do something with it.’” So, she did. At least once almost every month since March 2014, she has whipped up 11 batches of pancake batter: seven buttermilk, two buckwheat, one whole wheat and one dairy free/ gluten free. The batter is turned into about 180 specialty pancakes. Some is made into the “Stella” — lemon poppyseed swirl, blackberries and rosemary syrup. Other batter might become Spencer Ratliff’s favorite: the “Mancake,” which has bacon, Heath bar pieces, smoked paprika and whiskey syrup. “That’s usually my go-to if I’m not in the mood for a plain buttermilk pancake,” Spencer Ratliff said. “It’s a pretty great scenario for me because I absolutely love pancakes. I could eat them all the time.” It takes multiple trips to different grocery stores and several days of preparation to get
One of many speciality pancakes offered at Flip’s Batter Bar.
• Photo courtesy of Brit Fray Photography
everything — like the bottles of homemade syrup — ready. Melody Ratliff heads to Three Rivers Market for Cruze buttermilk and JEM Farm sausage and then to Costco, where she saves money buying in bulk. She prioritizes spending money on high-quality ingredients over others that aren’t produced locally, like flour and baking soda. “I don’t want to become another restaurant that’s too expensive for people to come have breakfast every day of the week,” she said. “I want you to be able to come get a $5 breakfast and still be happy about your food. I don’t want to create this hierarchy of only wealthy people can eat here, I want it to be a healthy mix.” Currently she doesn’t serve breakfast every day, but it’s in the works. Everything is lined up for Melody Ratliff to open a restaurant. She has the idea and Joe Petre, president of Conversion Properties Inc., has signed on as the investor. “I am interested in investing in good stories behind good products,” Petre said. “Once I tasted the product, I realized the product was even better than the story.” All they need now is a location. Melody is eager to move Flips out of her home, but the pair is waiting for the perfect spot — a house that serves as a commercial property. “There is something about the actual house where it makes it not awkward to sit at the same table with people you don’t know,” she said. Newcomers and old friends share spaces and conversation over thick, fluffy pancakes. “Every time I do it, maybe 10 percent of the people are strangers,” Melody Ratliff said. “It’s always fun asking them how they found out. That’s the most exciting part for me: when it passes my friends’ friends, because then it shows it’s actually a business and not just a supported-by-your-friends thing.” The next Flips Batter Bar breakfast will be April 12. Details can be found at flipsbatterbar.com.
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“Like, who decided eating messy food was a fo good idea?”
Jenna Butz eats a BBQ burrito at Sweet P’s.
• Photo courtesy of Jackson Bogach
(Wo)man v. food Jenna Butz takes on her own version of Sweet P’s burrito challenge
Jenna Butz
Arts & Culture Editor If you’ve ever watched the Travel Channel’s popular show “Man v. Food,” you probably know there was a Knoxville episode. And you probably know Adam Richman took on popular barbeque joint Sweet P’s El Gigante Comida challenge: a 4-pound version of the BBQ burrito accompanied by a halfpound of mac ‘n’ cheese and a half-pound of banana pudding. Now, when I went into Sweet P’s second location, the Downtown Dive on Jackson Avenue, I knew I wasn’t about to spend $50 on a meal that was guaranteed to make me puke. But, I was intrigued by the burrito. I had heard that even the regular size was massive and a little too weird to eat wrapped together in a tortilla shell. Walking in Tuesday night though, I was determined to create and dominate my own version of the Man v. Food challenge. Looking at the menu board, I mentally happy danced when I realized the burrito was $7 instead of the usual $8 on Tuesdays, and I knew it was meant to be. But after reading everything that comes in the BBQ Burrito (chicken or pork, beans, slaw, cheese and your choice of sauce all wrapped in a 12-inch flour tortilla), I panicked a little and decided to take it a step at a time, burrito first with pulled pork and hot barbecue sauce. Maybe I would go back for that mac ‘n’ cheese and banana pudding later … if I survived.
Jackson, my main squeeze, went with me and took the same approach. He was convinced eating a barbecue burrito was totally achievable and normal and mocked my slight fear. At first, I believed him. The aluminum foil cylinder looked tiny and completely conquerable compared to what I had imagined in my mind. “This is it?” I thought to myself. Even the mixing of beans and pork in one vessel (which I would normally never do) seemed totally fine. That was until about halfway through when I was applauding the fine folks of Sweet P’s for packing so much into such a small space while my stomach was also starting a revolt. But it was three-fourths through when I was convinced I couldn’t do it anymore. There was hot sauce dripping down my hands, cabbage was falling everywhere, beans were stuck in between my teeth. Like, who decided eating messy food was a good idea? Wait, hadn’t it been me who pitched this story to my editor and then dragged us there in the name of journalism? Jackson had finished his a good 15 minutes ago and was laying down in the booth texting. And it was taking me another 15 minutes just to convince myself to suck it up and suck it down. Metaphorically. I definitely chewed every bite into small, manageable, safe bits. Finally, in the name of that one dollar saved, I scarfed that last little mash of tortilla and beans down. And I was feeling pretty good. I was proud of myself for making it through that tiny monster, and my pride propelled me to order banana pudding to “cleanse the palate” I told Jackson as justification. To share though. Definitely to share.
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WEIRD WACKY WONDERFUL
Thursday, April 9, 2015 • The Daily Beacon
9
Get Fuzzy • Darby
NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD • Will Shortz
dadoodleydude • Adam Hatch
Cartoons of The Daily Beacon are the views of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Beacon or the Beacon’s editorial staff.
ACROSS 1 Draws back (from) 6 “The Great Escape” setting 12 What’s brewing? 14 Jean-Claude Van Damme film set in 1994 and 2004 16 Fleet 17 Who said about himself “Women find his power almost as much of a turn-on as his money” 19 Record of infantile behavior? 21 Frequent word from a valet 22 Little, in Lille 23 Like faces after face-lifts 25 Like some push-ups 27 Kona catch, maybe 30 Key of all white keys: Abbr. 32 Tiniest taste 33 Basis of a platform 35 Relaxing music genre
38 Lagging … or a hint to 17-, 19-, 56and 61-Across 41 No-goodnik
C O L A D E F O E
U P O N E R O S E R O D E
P E N T
I N D I G T O R I R P E L A E P A S X E L
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S W A M G O E S D I A N A
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45 José, to friends
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47 Fed. management agency
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54 Race unit 56 Part of a story you might not want to know
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ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE C U B A
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C H P I E A R I N U B T S I G E I N G T S S A
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2 “Great ___!” (Wonder Woman cry) 3 “Hurray” or “alas” 4 Owner of Shopping.com 5 World leader who was Time magazine’s 1977 Man of the Year 6 Part of S.O.P.: Abbr. 7 Uruguayan uncles 8 Fetal development test, for short 9 “That’ll ___ ya” 10 Often-torn body part in sports, briefly 11 Participants at many baptisms 13 Huger than huge 15 Wing: Prefix
18 ___ session (meeting after a legislative dissolution) 20 No-good
40 Having no chance for success, as a proposal, for short 43 Kind of street
24 Argues (with)
44 Ended (up)
26 Fringe
46 Identify
27 Org. that combats trafficking
49 Last new Olds
28 Device placed next to a drum
50 Funny Silverman
29 Not coastal 31 C.S.A. general Stuart 34 Golfer nicknamed “The Big Easy” 36 Comment upon driving past the same unfamiliar place again
52 Dominican, e.g. 55 Variety of cotton 57 Figure that’s unbelievable? 58 Farm cart 59 Funny Bombeck 60 Follow
37 Shout of success
62 Low
39 Power ___
63 Fire
10
WEIRD WACKY WONDERFUL
The Daily Beacon • Thursday, April 9, 2015
The naked truth: stripping on the Strip Cumberland Avenue was never more deserving of its nickname, the Strip, than in 1974 Faith Schweikert Copy Editor
And you thought what you did on the Strip last weekend was crazy. In 1974, a few too many drinks at Sunspot or a run through Cookout at 3 a.m. didn’t quite cut it in terms of ending the night on a high note. In 1974, you had to streak. That year, over the course of three days and several random outbursts in the following months, more than 5,000 UT undergrads stripped down naked and streaked Cumberland Avenue, according a KnoxNews article titled “Short-lived streaking at UT drew national attention” in 2012. It was so many students in such a short amount of time that CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite even dubbed Knoxville “the streaking capital of the world.” You won’t find that on Jimmy Cheek’s wall of school accolades, yet the event is almost perfectly preserved in nearly every attendee’s mind 40 years later. Elaine Watson, a UT undergrad in the spring of 1974, well remembers the night the Strip’s name became truer than ever. “It was a beautiful, warm night when everyone decided they were over-studied and everyone came to the Strip,” Watson said. “All the kids came from all over the campus, everybody was on the Strip. I really promise you, thousands and thousands of kids – you couldn’t move.” She describes a climate not unlike those of a crowded Vol Walk during football season: packed with excited people, screaming and yelling as young men came through the crowds, clearly distinguished from the spectators. It just so happened that instead of football
players, they were streakers. “People were lined up like a parade, standing on the curbs three or four deep watching the streets, and it just kind of had this atmosphere of a big parade,” recalled Jim Houston, a visiting high school senior from West Tennessee at the time. “I didn’t know what was going on … I just looked up and there was a naked guy running down with a sparkler in his hand like the Olympic Torch, like the beginning of the event.” However uncommon an “event” of this scale seems now, in 1974, it was the fad. College administrators across the country were dumbfounded by what to do as more and more students began stripping down and running throughout the grounds. So rampant was mass public nudity, in fact, that according to the University of Texas History Corner website, the National Safety Council released a list of safety regulations specifically for the streakers. These included wearing tennis shoes for protection and reflector tape for “nighttime streaking.” No regulations or rules, not even police, were going to stop the Volunteers from streaking as they pleased. Watson said there were a good number of police facilitating the action, but for the most part, they did not do anything to prevent it. “What could they do? I mean, there’s no way that you could’ve done anything,” she said. “You couldn’t move because there were so many people. And the crowd would’ve protected the streakers ... they would’ve not allowed the streakers to be caught. It was a real community, I would think. They were not causing any harm, they were just having a good time.” Knoxville resident Paul King recalls that evening on the Strip was fairly calm and even “organized,” with a few notable exceptions.
A student runs down Cumberland Avenue wearing nothing but a pair of socks and sneakers, according to the original caption from March 4, 1973. • File photo “I saw people on top of what I think was a service station at the time, a guy and a girl, and both of them took their clothes off,” King said, laughing. “Some of them got a little bit too loose, you know. It wasn’t like a flash and then it’s over. They were doing things they shouldn’t have done in public.” A statue of a bull on top of the then-deli Sam & Andy’s became a coveted location for dozens of couples’ sexual acts. According to KnoxNews, many buildings, too, were damaged throughout the week, as streakers would
climb onto roofs to disrobe before emerging in the giant crowd below. “You have to understand, it was the ‘70s — there was a lot of drinking, a lot of drugs,” Watson said. “It was a really free time at that point in time. It was just like a big happy party, just peace, love and rock n’ roll.” “You hit all the liquor stores and we drank cheap wine and watched the streakers. It was just one of those magical things that just happened one spring, one spring at UT.”
Dr. Strange uses storytelling techniques to demonstrate outdoor risks Heidi Hill
Copy Editor The trail has disappeared and an evening chill sets in as the sun’s warmth tucks behind a cluster of dusky clouds. Your stomach groans with hunger, but there is no viable food for miles. For Richard Strange, UT professor in the Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries, this dilemma is just one of the many
risks possible for any outdoorsman. To catch a satiating roast duck dinner, Strange said a savvy survivalist needs only the following: a gallon tub of Vaseline, leather belt, a few pumpkins and knowledge of Native American hunting strategies. Inspired by a 20-year-old magazine clip, Strange said the article’s great detail on how to trap unsuspecting waterfowl led him to regale his conservation class with his nowfamous survival story. “I’d read these (magazines) like Outdoor and Life, and they had done some research
on how Native Americans hunted and fished before they had firearms,” Strange said. “One of the techniques was putting the pumpkins on the water and covering themselves with bear grease.” Although he hooks students on the assumption his tale is a personal experience, Strange said the story is meant to demonstrate the risks inherent in outdoor activities and spark a fun environment in his class. “You gotta take off all your clothes except your belt. Put your belt around your waist, so you’re naked except for your belt and then you
take your Vaseline, and you slather it all over your body,” Strange said. The Vaseline acts as a wetsuit, he said, and the pumpkin head covering prevents other ducks from recognizing the hunter slipping through the creek to approach the targeted meal. “(The other ducks) think, ‘Boy, Joe dove deep for that snail, butt first!’” Strange said. “They never notice Joe never comes back up, because you’ve got Joe tucked into your belt.” See STRANGE on Page 11
WEIRD WACKY WONDERFUL
Thursday, April 9, 2015 • The Daily Beacon
11
Appalachian storytellers weave community with their words Kevin Ridder
Online Editor A line extended to the door, dishes clinked and lively chatter abounded in the coffee shop. Amidst the organized chaos of the afternoon lunch rush, at a small table in the back corner of the restaurant, one could soon forget about all of this. As local storyteller Kathleen Mavournin began to speak, the tinkling of dishes faded into obscurity as an entirely new world was woven. A world set in years long past, before cities and cell phone towers peppered the Earth. Finishing her story and taking a sip of coffee, Mavournin described why she enjoys storytelling so much. “I think of stories as the way we explain the universe to each other,” Mavournin said. “Particularly the ones I tell, which are often thousands of years old. It’s kind of like plugging yourself into the universe and letting it flow through you.” Now residing in a retirement community, Mavournin worked at Oak Ridge National Laboratory for 22 years. But even though she holds a doctoral degree in molecular genetics, Mavournin has loved stories and fairy tales ever since she was a little girl. “My mother and father read to me a lot growing up, so that was probably the beginning of it,” she said. “When I was in elementary school, though, I was fascinated with fairy tales.” Mavournin can recall checking out every fairy tale book she could get her hands on, reading them repeatedly until she strayed into a new section of the stacks. “One day, I discovered Dewey Decimal Section 398.2: folklore,” she said. “It really took off from there.” Although she may not be as mobile as she once was, Mavournin
“Storytelling truly is one of the last things that is for the entire family.” -Janice Brooks-Headrick
STRANGE continued from Page 10 Sarah Sommerfield, a senior in Wildlife & Fisheries Sciences, said Strange uses this “shock value” while in the classroom and in conversation with students. “He was lecturing in the middle of class and just walks over to this lady and plants a big
still translates a powerful energy to her audience. She claims she never really liked to be overly energetic in her storytelling anyway, viewing herself instead as a medium that passes along stories and characters for listeners’ own interpretations. “I put a lot of care into developing my characters and portraying them as honestly as I can, but I don’t do much that calls attention to me as the storyteller,” she said. “When I’m putting a story together, I think about what the characters are and what they represent … if I have a good image of each character in my head, then the character will come across as real.” Mavournin isn’t the only person in East Tennessee with a love for storytelling. The Smoky Mountain Storytellers Association, an official non-profit since 1994, holds storytelling as the greatest natural resource of Southern Appalachia. Janice Brooks-Headrick, corresponding secretary of the SMSA and Mavournin’s partner in crime, has been captivating audiences since 1986. “We’re a very mixed group, and most of our members have had very interesting lives in other vocations,” Brooks-Headrick said. “Together, we share workshops and hold different programs throughout the year. While it may not be a very high-paying job, most of us just make a life.” Kathleen Mavournin shares stories of folklore and fairy tale at local In addition to hosting a variety event. • Photo courtesy of Janice Brooks-Headrick of programs, the SMSA also works to catalog and pass along stories for future generations. Storytelling also has the ability to encompass a wide range of “If you don’t tell your family stories, then who will?” BrooksHeadrick said. “Plus, storytelling is the absolute best way to people and experiences, Brooks-Headrick noted. “There’s something for everybody in storytelling,” she said. teach little kids. Children, and all humans really, are hard-wired to “Our audiences range from small children to seniors in retirement understand things through storytelling.” While both Mavournin and Brooks-Headrick appreciate writ- communities. Storytelling truly is one of the last things that is for the entire family.” ing, they also believe oral storytelling holds a distinct difference. To find out more about the Smoky Mountain Storyteller’s “When you hear a story, it enters your mental processes at a level just below rational critiquing,” Mavournin said. “Because of Association and view their schedule of upcoming events, visit this, the emotional impact will hit you a lot more quickly than if http://smokymountaintellers.org. you had just read the story.”
kiss on her, and all of the students were like, ‘What the heck is this guy doing?’” Sommerfield recalls. “And he doesn’t tell anyone until the end of class that it was actually his wife sitting there.” Although Strange reluctantly gave up teaching the conservation course to focus on research and his other classes, Strange said he attributes a fascination with nature to days spent fishing near a family-owned cabin in New Mexico’s mountains.
Childhood memories of trips into a lake, being chased by a bear into an outhouse and, above all, fishing keep him coming back to the study of the creatures he likens to extraterrestrials. “If you think about a deer or maybe your pet dog, really those animals are basically like us,” Strange said. “But a fish (is) cold-blooded, it has a different metabolism and it gets oxygen from water, not air. It’s like going to Mars for a human.”
For Sommerfield, her instructor’s knowledge contributes not only to her education of fish life cycles and habitats, but also to her awareness of the crucial issues facing aquatic life today. “There’s a whole big need in fisheries for a better understanding, and Dr. Strange goes into that with pollution and the problems we have in water and reservoirs,” Sommerfield said. “He is just very knowledgeable and you can ask him anything and he just knows it. He doesn’t have to look at book. It’s all up there.”
12
WEIRD WACKY WONDERFUL
The Daily Beacon • Thursday, April 9, 2015
Not your elementary school hula hoopers Unconventional activity brings together unlikely community Jordan Achs
Copy Editor
Randy Jones, Morristown resident, builds small homes inspired by those in Hobbiton in “The Lord of the Rings.” Hannah Marley • The Daily Beacon
Morristown man finds inner Hobbit Hannah Marley Staff Writer
J.R.R. Tolkien’s Shire may not be as far away as some think. Randy Jones, a self-taught carpenter and builder based in Morristown, Tennessee, has embarked on an unexpected journey of his own — the realm of tiny home construction. Inspired by the “hole in the ground” that fans of “The Lord of the Rings” know and love, Jones’ first completed Hobbit home is the beginning of what he hopes to be a series of custom small houses. “Tiny homes are a really big thing, but no one was doing something different (with them),” Jones said. “So I actually watched the movie ‘The Hobbit,’ and I just kind of mimicked what I saw. This is what came out.” An ivy-covered roof and stained wooden shingles adorn the exterior of Jones’ magical creation. After entering the home’s iconic rounded doorway, a full kitchen with a small tea tray and reading nook ideally situated for second breakfast catches the eye. There are plenty of other Hobbit-like details abound, such as the shelves lined with pickled vegetables and a wooden carving of a bear resembling Beorn. Underneath a gnarled, wooden overhang and behind a sliding wooden partition, one of the home’s two couches unfolds to make a queen-sized bed across from a map of Middle Earth. Jones, a carpenter with 25 years of experience, decided to try his hand at tiny homes after his friend and business partner David Smith retired. He said he wanted to create a structure that was not only visually appealing,
but also a cost-effective and spacious alternative for people wanting a quality home. “People ... are downsizing a lot, and couples don’t have the money anymore like they used to,” Smith said. “It is big enough for a couple, even though it looks small. If you walk into the Hobbit house, you’ll see that it’s not as small as it looks.” By using reclaimed lumber and the decorative wooden pieces typically discarded by logging companies, Jones said he is able to create tiny homes for a base price of $15,000 — less than half the usual market price for tiny homes. Part of his desire to build sturdy yet cost effective tiny homes stems from his own economic hardships following the recession in 2007. After losing a $14 million log cabin company and resort that he founded himself, Jones said he understands the financial hardships many people are still experiencing. He hopes through his work he can help provide quality custom homes for people who might be unable to afford traditional housing. Jones added that although the Hobbit house has experienced a great deal of publicity — being featured locally, out-of-state and even on one U.K. television network — he hopes people see the true motivations for his work. The creative freedom and love for what he does inspire him to continue building, not a love of profit. “I just want people to know that, yeah, it’s a business, but it’s not just about me earning back the money that I lost,” said Jones. “There are so many more important things; that’s not my driving force. I’m more apt to enjoy things now instead of just running after the dollar.”
You might have seen it on the streets of the Fort, or maybe in the back of a crowd at a festival: hula-hooping, but not your elementaryschool memory of it. The hoop is flying through the air, over limb and body, paired with movement and music to make the performer dance. The hooper can manipulate the speed and spin with their hands, arms and body. This dance style is a quickly growing trend, and many on UT’s campus are starting to take part. But what draws people more than this unique form of exercise is the community that follows. Laura Lemon, Ph.D. student and graduate teaching assistant for the School of Advertising & Public Relations, loves that it’s a way to dance and enjoy music in public places, like live shows. “You can’t always just dance on your own without feeling like you’re silly,” Lemon said. “So the hoop was a really nice way to blend my love for dance and music together.” Lemon has been hooping for about five years, but really picked it up after moving to Knoxville for school in 2013. “I needed to make friends, and it’s always been a really great tool to be able to meet people,” she said. “In my experience, a lot of people that are in the hoop community are like-minded and accepting. (They are) definitely a diverse group of people, which is always awesome.” Kevin Brown, senior in public relations, agreed, saying it brings people together whether that means strangers in a park when he visited San Francisco or friends trying to find a way to fill a lazy afternoon. “The coolest thing about hooping for me
yet, was watching multitudes of people come over to my house and slowly become just as into it as I am,” Brown said. “I’m feeling like I have my own little hoop community, my own hoop dojo.” Brown emphasizes that anyone can pick up a hoop and start doing tricks like the pros — with a fair amount of practice. “It’s not about being better than other people,” Brown said. “If you’re better, it ultimately means you’ve just practiced more. Anyone can do it if they’re willing to put in the effort and don’t expect to just get it right off the bat.” Those that prefer more structured learning can sign up for classes. Lemon started attending classes at Eaux Performance and Dance Company, a dance studio located just off Kingston Pike. The hoop classes are run by Charity Edwards — described by Lemon as the “Hoop Mama of Knoxville.” There, Edwards also hosts monthly “Flow Jams” where hoopers of all ages and demographics can come together to socialize and hoop. Edwards said she wanted to create a healthy space focused on creativity. “That’s why we’re here,” Edwards said. “To create energy and also give that energy away.” These aren’t your average, Walmart hula hoops, either. Brown said the hoops seen in her studio are normally found in Etsy shops online or in specialty stores like the Hoop Supplies store in Nashville. Made of special lightweight plastic, they come in a variety of diameters and sizes and are decorated with colorful reflective tape, making each hoop as unique as the owner wants. Brown adds social media, like Facebook and Instagram, plays a large role in the art, as many have their own pages where they show off new tricks, new hoops they bought or ones they’re trying to sell. The next flow jam, the first week of May, is at The Cove in Farragut. This outside location allots for more hoopers, vendors, hammocks and even fire hoop performances. Those interested can contact Charity Edwards at hoopbug.com.