Game masters shed light on Columbia’s D&D scene. p. 18
POST SEX NACHOS’ YEAR IN REVIEW PAGE 5
FIXIN’ GUITARS FOR 28 YEARS PAGE 9
FROM PEN TO PAINTBRUSH PAGE 12
THIS HONEY’S HOT TO GO PAGE 25
If there’s one thing I’ve long respected and appreciated, it’s a good hobby. Dayto-day routines can drag on once you get adjusted to a cycle, so it’s important to find little pockets of joy. This could be something small — like a midday coffee, lunch with a friend or perhaps going home to work on a new passion.
Pretty much my whole life, I’ve been a fulltime student, which means my “job” has been my education; I’ve always felt that everything else had to come second. Until I started working as an editorial teaching assistant for Vox, my passion for journalism and magazines had come in the form of a part-time internship or freelance writing on the side.
In this issue of Vox, we see locals who have transformed little pockets of joy into something much bigger. I loved reading about John Fennell (p. 12), a former University of Missouri professor (and longtime Vox writing coach) who always had a passion for art. After retiring from journalism, he set his sights on a new career as an artist. Working out of Orr Street Studios, you can find him in his studio painting abstract pieces and landscapes.
Once students at MU, the band members of Post Sex Nachos have certainly transformed their dedication to music into a full-time gig (p. 5). Within the past year, the band has exploded in popularity — from the release of a new album to a performance at Lollapalooza.
Even if your hobby outside of the 9-to-5 routine doesn’t becomce a new career path, it’s still important to make time for fun, and even a little fantasy.
Our other feature story in this issue is about local campaign leaders in the Dungeons & Dragons scene (p. 18). These world builders take unique skillsets to the tabletop and build community in the process.
As I continue developing my career as a journalist, I hope to find new activities and hobbies that lend themselves not only to my creativity but also to my mental health. Routines can be great, but growing into something new and exciting can be even greater.
Through these stories, I hope we can all learn to be a little more adventurous with our interests. You never know — those little pockets of joy can transform into something more.
MICAH BARNES Editor-in-Chief
The first time I met John Fennell (left) was in his space at Orr Street Studios. Guests drifted through, marveling at paintings and shaking his hand. He wore his usual: a painter’s smock, a gray cap and a bright smile. I had heard of him. John is a retired professor who worked in magazine journalism for years and now works as a full-time artist — an admired one, if his jubilant familiarity with the guests said anything. Through hours of conversation with John in that very studio, I got to know the man behind the canvas. I met the little boy he had been, jealous of a classmate’s crayons, and the young journalist who dreamed of going to art school. I met a man, now 75, who can’t picture himself doing anything other than painting. John’s search for creativity, for meaning, for adventure, has permeated every stage of his life, and this article (p. 12) brings his journey to you. His story is just another reason to trust in an old (and true) cliché: It’s never too late to follow your dreams.
—Ashlynn Perez
Correction: In the September/October issue, a caption misidentified where the band Wilson Park Rangers rehearses. The band actually was practicing in a local warehouse and studio space.
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF MICAH BARNES
MANAGING EDITORS GRACE BURWELL, CAYLI YANAGIDA
DEPUTY EDITOR ABIGAIL RAMIREZ
DIGITAL MANAGING EDITOR MJ MONTGOMERY
AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT EDITOR DAVID TALLANT
ART DIRECTOR VALERIE TISCARENO
PHOTO DIRECTOR ASHLEE KLOTZBEUCHER
MULTIMEDIA EDITOR OLIVIA MAILLET
ASSISTANT ART DIRECTORS LILY CARROLL, SHIRIN REKABDAR-XAVIER
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
CULTURE LILY CARROLL, BRIANNA DAVIS, OLIVIA MAHL, OLIVIA MAILLET, KATE RAMSEYER EAT + DRINK SAM BARRETT, SARAH GASSEL, SHIRIN REKABDAR-XAVIER, KEVIN UTZ, ELENA WILSON CITY LIFE BAILEY BECKER, ETHAN DAVIS, LAUREN GREEN, SOPHIA KOCH
STAFF WRITERS AUSTIN GARZA, ALEX GOLDSTEIN, SARAH GOODSON, SYD MINOR, MJ MONTGOMERY, SARAH MOURA, ASHLYNN PEREZ, ALLY SCHNIEPP, EMMA ZAWACKI
SOCIAL & AUDIENCE KALYN LAIRE, ALEX XU
DIGITAL PRODUCERS HAVEN DAGER, ASHLEY DICKEY, PRAJI GHOSH, NAOMI M. KLEIN, KENZIE RIPE, OLIVIA RODRIGUEZ, NATALIE TAN
DESIGN ASSISTANTS RACHEL GOODBEE, SOPHIA LINDBERG
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS MAYA DAWSON, AUDREY ELLIS, ASHLEY FLEWELLEN, CHARLIE WARNER
CONTRIBUTING PRODUCERS ARABELLA COSGROVE, CHARLIE DAHLGREN, JAKE MARSZEWSKI
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR HEATHER ISHERWOOD
EXECUTIVE EDITOR LAURA HECK
WRITING COACHES CARY LITTLEJOHN, JENNIFER ROWE
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ADVERTISING 882-5714 | CIRCULATION 882-5700 | EDITORIAL 884-6432
DECEMBER 2024
VOLUME 26, ISSUE 9
PUBLISHED BY THE COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN LEE HILLS HALL, COLUMBIA MO 65211
Cover design: Valerie Tiscareno
Cover photography: Ashlee Klotzbeucher
Cheesin’ their way home
From Lollapalooza to larceny, band Post Sex Nachos experienced it all in 2024. 07 Vox Picks
A magic tree lighting and hot chocolate occupy part of this month’s calendar.
Keep your pet paw-sitive
Veterinarian Dr. Anna Delabar explains how we can understand pet behaviors.
CoMo’s guitar hero
Show Me Guitars is the only Fender authorized guitar tech store in Columbia.
Vintage clothes and prices
Bryce Miller sells quality clothes at mid prices through Mids Vintage.
Laughter kept the members of Post Sex Nachos going during a year of big shows and big woes.
BY MAYA DAWSON
The band Post Sex Nachos now produces indie rock anthems from its home base in Nashville. But Vox readers might recognize the band members from their days in Columbia as students at the University of Missouri, practicing in an attic and playing shows for friends. Within the past year, the band — often known simply as PSN — has exploded in popularity and released a new album, all while experiencing some major hardships. Here’s a look at the past year.
Feb. 9 — Prima/Vera released
In February, the group released its fourth album and first studio album, Prima/Vera.
For the band’s producer Isaac Flynn, it was important to capture the band’s stage energy in the record, while preserving the genre-bending groove and complex songwriting that keeps PSN from being pigeonholed as just another indie rock party band.
The songs “Growing Old,” “Changes” and “Keep Moving” were rolled into the album from EPs recorded in 2023 during a recording session in Los Angeles, where Flynn lives. However, the bulk of the album was produced over a 10-day sprint in Nashville.
Feb. 16 — The Prima/Vera tour starts A week later, PSN set out on a six-week tour, the longest the band had been continuously on the road.
“You could definitely tell that there’s something that changed after we released the record,” lead vocalist Sammy Elfanbaum says. “We usually sell out a few important markets on the tour, but there were a lot of really packed shows.”
The band traveled between shows with only a van and trailer, stopping at hotels. They ended the tour at The Blue Note in Columbia on April 20.
Aug. 4 — Lollapalooza is one of its largest crowds to date
In August, PSN played at Lollapalooza in Chicago. Thousands of fans attended and sang along to its songs.
That was a huge moment for the band, says Annie Mueller, whose husband is bassist Chase Mueller. “I was taking a video of them on the stage, and I turned around, and I hadn’t seen how big the crowd had gotten, and it was all the way back to the tree line.”
Sept. 4 — Fall tour starts in Kansas City
The morning of Sept. 6, the band members met in the parking lot of their hotel
About a year ago, Post Sex Nachos had around 33,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. Now, the group has about 94,000.
With between 758,000 and 1.5 million streams, the group’s most popular songs are “Coffee,” “Talk About It” and “Holdin’ on to You.”
Check out PSN at postsexnachos.com or @postsexnachos on Instagram.
in Wichita, Kansas, to find that the trailer with PSN’s instruments, equipment and merchandise had been stolen.
“We all cried for a minute, and then we all just laughed, like, ‘Of course,’ and then we got to work,” Elfanbaum says.
Some members called the police and searched for security camera footage. Others started a GoFundMe page to recover some of their losses. Then they piled into their van to drive to the next show in Colorado.
When the band checked its GoFundMe the next day, they were shocked to find that fans had donated over $30,000. “It was really heartwarming, but also, we all felt really weird about it because we don’t want to take people’s money in that way,” Elfanbaum says.
Two days after the initial theft, police located most of the stolen items, and within four days, the trailer itself was found. The band did not recover a cash box and some equipment, including a keyboard, but they refunded all of the GoFundMe donations. Many donors chose to not take their donations back.
Nov. 1 and 2 — Back in Columbia After recovering most of the equipment, Post Sex Nachos completed its fall tour. Then, the band did a residency at Rose Music Hall on Nov. 1 and 2, returning to its Columbia roots.
“I think we’re a lot more confident, a lot more excited to record more music,” Elfanbaum says. “We’re definitely on the ups this year. I feel like we’ve come a long way.”
What’s next?
On Nov. 22, PSN released a cover of “Last Christmas.” The group also announced its spring 2025 tour, The Minor League Tour, beginning Feb. 15. Tickets are available on postsexnachos.com.
Flynn says it’s been awesome watching the band reach a national scale. “I hope it just keeps growing and growing, because I think that in these wild times in the world, the levity that they can bring with their show is so fun,” Flynn says. “It’s really awesome for people to escape for even 45 minutes of a Post Sex Nachos show.”
Each month, Vox curates a list of can’t-miss shops, eats, reads and experiences. We find the new, trending or underrated to help you enjoy the best our city has to offer.
BY LAUREN GREEN AND KEVIN UTZ
the magic of the State Historical Society of Missouri (SHSMO) through its Daily Disney exhibition. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Disney Studios, SHSMO offers a deep dive into Missouri-native Walt Disney’s iconic animations and comic-strips. Say bibbidi bobbidi do to a curated selection of cartoons and images that reflect Disney’s extensive impact on American culture. At no cost, visit any time through the month of December for a magical experience. State Historical Society of Missouri, 605 Elm St., Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.,
Christmas with Günter Hans at its eighth annual Christkindlmarkt. In conjunction with The District’s annual Living Windows event, Christkindlmarkt offers a unique shopping and eating experience inspired by German Christmas celebrations. Themed booths located in the Barrel Room at Günter Hans will feature traditional German foods and gifts. Gluhwein, a German mulled wine, will be served at the outdoor bar. For extra warmth, enjoy a boozy hot chocolate while you peruse the market with friends and family free of charge.
Günter Hans, 7 Hitt St., Dec. 6, 5-8 p.m., gunterhans.com
LIGHT up the night with the annual displaying of Columbia’s Magic Tree. Located in the Village of Cherry Hill, the Magic Tree has served as a hallmark holiday tradition for over 15 years. Gather with friends and family for a night of bright lights, face painting, visits with Santa and food trucks. The lighting ceremony will take place at 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 5, but you can visit the tree any time until Jan. 6, 2025. No tickets are needed for this free event. Village of Cherry Hill, 4200 Merchant St., Dec. 5, 5:30 p.m., magic-tree.org
in a decadent cup of liquid chocolate using hot cocoa bombs from home bakery Sugar, Butter & Flour. Owner Alanna Ti’a offers flavors like classic chocolate and peppermint for a more traditional taste, and Nutella and Mexican chocolate for something a little more unique. All you have to do is place them inside a mug, pour steaming hot milk over the top of it, and watch the marshmallow magic happen. For an additional charge, you can get them individually packaged into a gift box for the holiday Available for order Dec. 2 through Dec. 31, $5 per
the beat with live performances from local bands this December. Chronokinesis brings alternative metal to Rose Music Hall’s Dark Below Rock ’n’ Roll Holiday Show on Dec. 6. For an old-time feel, watch The Kay Brothers at The Blue Note on Dec. 19. Then, join Travis Feutz & The Stardust Cowboys as they close out the year with a Chronokinesis, Rose Music Hall, Dec. 6, 8 p.m., $10; The Kay Brothers, The Blue Note, Dec. 19, 7 p.m., $12-$15; Travis Feutz & The Stardust Cowboys, Rose Music Hall, Dec. 20, 7 p.m., $8; rosemusichall.
Veterinarian Anna Delabar helps decode the emotions behind animal behavior.
BY SYD MINOR
Animals experience emotions similar to how humans do. How those emotions are treated is crucial to their behavior and mental health.
Pet behavior specialist Jennen Herbst says understanding pet behavior is vital to the human-animal relationship. “You have to know their behavior and how to handle it in order to build (trust),” Herbst says.
Emotions are commonly displayed through their body language, Herbst says. She recommends positive and comfortable interactions to promote good behavior. “You can begin to put those positive associations to where they look at you for guidance, rather than feeling the need to react or to show some of those fear signs.”
Dr. Anna Delabar is the owner of
What are ways animals show emotion to owners?
Pets show a wide range of behaviors. We think of a lot of positive behaviors, like the animal greeting you when you get home. They follow you around the house, they like to be close to you and want to interact with you. But there certainly are times when they might have other behaviors that are more negative or undesirable, like barking too much or jumping or growling or biting, which is the flip side of being calm, happy and comfortable.
How do owners misunderstand their pets’ emotions?
I think by anthropomorphizing, which means that a human emotion is applied to the animal. It’s easy to do that, but it’s important to take some time to learn
When traveling, it can be stressful for owners and the animal when a pet is left behind.
Dr. Anna Delabar advises finding ways to keep the pet’s routine consistent. For instance, having someone stay at your house can reduce the stress that could come with a new place like a boarding facility. Delabar also says medications can
feel more comfortable. Doing that is exactly what will strengthen and enhance the bond that you have with your pet.
What is the Fear Free movement in veterinary medicine?
We take extra steps in our practice to prioritize the pet’s emotional health while they’re at the vet. A lot of pets are stressed when they’re at the vet; it’s a new place with lots of smells, new sounds, bright lights, new people that are interacting and want to touch them. All of that is very overwhelming and scary for animals, so the Fear Free movement addresses these concerns. We’re really proud to be one of just a couple Fear Free certified practices in Columbia.
How can owners reduce their pet’s
Work to understand them more and learn more about their emotions and how they express them through their behavior, and thinking about what all of their needs are. If pet owners are worried about negative emotions, then they should partner with their veterinarian. Maybe the pet has a source of pain that could be treated, or maybe they need more behavior support to address anxiety or fears so that they can live their best life. In order to do that, you really have to encompass their mental and
are animals’ physical and mental
Physical health and mental health are very tightly intertwined. An animal may feel anxious and they can also have pain, which can contribute to anxiety about interactions or (being) handled for veterinary care. We’re learning more and more in human medicine about the connection between chronic pain and mental health, and that exists in animals, too.
Photography by Elijah Camner
Ben Wade started his guitar and repair shop in 1996 with a strum and a dream.
BY CHARLIE WARNER
Ed Stanley, the store manager at Show Me Guitars, looked up from a pile of wood fragments and leveled with the woman who brought them in. “You might as well throw it away,” he said, unaware of the sentimental value of the broken instrument. She began to cry.
That’s when Ben Wade, the store’s owner and guitar and amp technician, stepped in. He’d overheard the conversation and said he’d see what he could do.
Four months of guitar Jenga and copious amounts of wood glue later, the customer had her acoustic guitar back. It wasn’t quite playable, but the memories were salvaged.
This is an example of the many jobs taken on by Wade, who is one of the only Fender authorized guitar technicians in the state. Fender is one of the most prominent guitar manufacturers in the world. Since Wade opened Show Me Guitars, it
Ben Wade, the owner of Show Me Guitars, will try his hand at fixing any guitar that has value to its owner.
has become Columbia’s oldest guitar shop and the only authorized Fender repair shop in the city.
An unexpected start
While studying theater at the University of Missouri, Wade decided he wanted to learn to play guitar. After purchasing one from a local store, the business owner told him the instrument case was an additional $150.
Wade says he found the extra cost deceptive and believed guitars should be more accessible.
“So, I had an idea to start buying and selling guitars,” Wade says. He felt called to it, though his friends and family were doubtful. Not only did it seem sudden, but there were six other guitar stores in town at the time.
Initially, Wade ran his business out of his home, starting in 1996. To his surprise, the business grew quickly enough to merit a brick-and-mortar location. Originally in a tiny space on Cherry Street, the store soon relocated to Ninth Street downtown. As the business grew, Wade added a second location on Peachtree Drive that eventually became its main storefront. Finally, in 2023, Show Me Guitars settled into its current location at 3901 S. Providence Road.
“I didn’t really do it because we needed another guitar shop,” Wade says. “I did it because I thought people needed a different kind of service.”
Playing to his strengths
After opening the store, Wade learned how to repair guitars. Building on his experience as a car mechanic, Wade studied and used online resources to slowly learn how to repair acoustic, classical, electric and bass guitars.
A key factor to Show Me Guitars’ success is the fact that it is authorized by Fender. This means that Wade is one of 10 people in Missouri — and the only one in Columbia — who can perform certified repairs on Fender equipment.
In order to become Fender certified, Wade had to pass rigorous testing. The tests included math, physics and even engineering. Fender requires specific knowledge of all types of Fender gear, which has continued to evolve since it was created in 1946.
“(It’s) this sort of art of someone who can work on something from 1962,” says Tanner Jones, who teaches guitar lessons at the shop. “Fender wants people who they can say, ‘This guy is to our standard of being able to work on our stuff.’ ”
In 2010, Wade earned his certificate for electric and acoustic guitar repairs. In 2016, the store became authorized to sell Fender accessories and parts. In 2020, he obtained an amplifier repair certification as well. This increased Show Me Guitars’ business because people with Fender gear could get everything they need and have their equipment repaired in one place.
Apart from being highly certified, Show Me Guitars is invested in contributing to the local community through music. The shop offers guitar lessons through its Show Me Academy. Jones says the store brings a friendliness to the Columbia guitar community. “I come in and see Ed and Ben first thing every day,” Jones says. “It actually feels like a family opposed to saying it’s a family, and then not acting like a family.”
The main focus for both Stanley and Wade is making guitars and music more accessible. “The people that we have that work here and the people that come in here are the backbone of the business,” Stanley says.
Show Me Guitars has created a space where local guitar players can grow to their full potential, no matter their experience level, just as Wade did.
and
FRET Reach out to Show Me Guitars, 3901 S. Providence Road, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Learn more at showmeguitars. com.
It took Ben Wade 24 years after opening Show Me Guitars to earn his Fender guitar and amplifier certification.
Bryce Miller offers authentic and retro fashion at Mids Vintage.
BY AUSTIN GARZA
Last year, Bryce Miller spent his birthday working the grand opening of his store, Mids Vintage. A year later, he found a line of 25 people waiting for him to open the store doors. A customer even brought Miller a cake to celebrate the dual birthday.
Located in the Columbia Mall, Mids Vintage offers a selection of affordable, curated vintage clothing. “Mids” refers to pieces priced between $20 and $40, highlighting Miller’s focus on making trends budget-accessible.
At his store, Miller prioritizes customer experience. He talks with everyone who enters and during every purchase, he lets customers shoot a miniature basketball into a hoop, offering an added discount if they make it.
Von Hudson is a repeat customer who values Miller’s friendliness. “Every time I come here, it’s always great energy,” Hudson says. “There’s smiles all around.”
As Mid’s sole employee, Miller does it all, from social media to filing taxes. He sometimes wishes he had more employees to keep the store open longer, but takes pride in knowing he handpicks every piece of clothing.
“Sometimes I see people out in public wearing something they got from here,” Miller says. “I just think it’s a cool feeling to know I was the one who picked out that item and seeing somebody else enjoy it.”
On Mondays and Tuesdays, when the store is closed, Miller searches for the best pieces to display. Buying in bulk is Miller’s main sourcing method. He primarily buys from resellers in Columbia, Kansas City and St. Louis. He alternatively buys clothes from customers
at the store. He pays close attention to trends and what sells in-store, shifting his product based on customer demand.
“I see what sells for me,” Miller says. “For example, Harley Davidson shirts. I know those sell well for me, so anytime I’m out with my buddies thrifting, I’m looking for that particular item.”
Miller primarily caters to students and knows they don’t have $200 to spend on a shirt. Instead of stocking the store with expensive, rare pieces, Miller would rather fill his store with mids so more people can participate in current trends without spending large amounts of money.
Since the store’s opening, Miller has also experimented with design as a creative outlet. “I would never throw away vintage anything,” Miller says. He has a collection of old sweatshirts he aims to repurpose.
Miller celebrated the store’s anniversary with a special, vintage-inspired
For more information and photos of the latest pieces, follow @midsvntg on Instagram. WHERE: 2300 Bernadette Drive, #604
HOURS: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.
football practice jersey. “I’ve always been a creative person,” Miller says. “I love getting on Adobe Illustrator and mocking up logos and designs. This year, I went with the football practice jersey, and the feedback I received was great. It feels good because I did create every part of that.”
Along with practice jerseys, Miller plans to release Mids Vintage T-shirts and sweatshirts for special occasions.
Over the past year, Miller has seamlessly joined Columbia’s vintage clothing scene. Gabriel Watkins-Mocumbi, who resells vintage clothes online, met Miller over a year ago. They began exchanging pieces and, over time, their business relationship grew into a friendship.
“He’s just full of compliments and positivity,” Watkins-Mocumbi says. “It kind of plays off of my cynicism.”
Similarly, Miller befriended Ethan Ingram, a vintage clothing reseller from St. Charles. Although the two sell comparable products, they have differing viewpoints on what they should sell.
Bryce Miller opened Mids Vintage at the Columbia Mall in 2023. He is there five days a week and aims to provide customers with a good experience.
“Seeing the same faces over and over again is a good thing,” Miller says.
“He sells stuff a lot differently than I do,” Ingram says, “whether it’s pricing or selling pieces I would probably pass on.”
To Miller, retro clothes are more than an aesthetic — they tell a person’s story. Mids Vintage allows him to share those stories and connect with other fashion enthusiasts.
Photography by Alex Buchanan
After a career of deadlines and classrooms, John Fennell turned to paintbrushes and a studio to pursue art, which had always been in the background.
STORY Ashlynn Perez
PHOTOGRAPHY Alex Buchanan
DESIGN Valerie Tiscareno
EDITING Sophia Koch
John and Hilda Fennell met when they both worked in restaurants in Chicago while pursuing other careers.
These days, John Fennell wakes up by 7 a.m. and has breakfast with Hilda, his wife. They make coffee and head to the MKT Nature and Fitness Trail. He walks with Hilda one way and runs back the other way. At one time, he would have run both ways, but John is 75 now and doesn’t do that as much anymore.
At 10 or 11 a.m., John heads to his studio. He is one of 21 artists who work at Orr Street Studios. Floor-to-ceiling windows warm the space with light. Every piece of furniture is blotted with colored paints, and it won’t take long to see why: dozens of John’s vibrant paintings are pressed to the walls in all shapes and sizes, trying to make them fit in the space is like a Tetris game.
The hanging paintings are a marvel. There are staggering abstractions in bright orange or deep violet, geometric pieces that look like fractured rainbows and soft-toned landscapes.
“This one is ‘Verdant Heights in Mexico,’ ” he says, pointing to a mountainous landscape in green and blue. “And then this one comes from my experience being on the trail.” It’s another landscape with bushes and trees that feel distinctly Missourian, with soft greens and murky browns. “I’m on the trail a lot,” he says.
Preferably, John will spend the day in this studio painting. Sometimes, he says, he spends the morning putting his work in frames or cleaning up the studio, but that’s his less-preferred option.
Since his formal retirement from teaching in December 2019 and his “real” retirement in May 2020, he has worked at Orr Street Studios as a full-time artist. His paintings have been exhibited at Sager Reeves Gallery and the Columbia Art League time and time again. He’s shown his work in St. Louis, Kansas City and once in Hong Kong. John was awarded the Mayor’s Award for Art in the Park in 2019 and most recently won second place at the Boone County Art Show.
This is the first time in his life that art has been his true profession. Until now, it had just been a passion, a dream, a degree or a side hustle. He once thought this life — an artist’s life — was too dangerous and uncertain.
Now he’s here, in his painter’s smock, five days a week. John gazes at his easel when he says, “I can’t imagine what I’d be doing if I wasn’t painting.”
A pathway to the paintbrush
John was raised in a large family in southwest Chicago, born to a railroad engineer and a
stay-at-home mother. As one of six children, he says there was little encouragement for his art and few resources toward pursuing it.
Still, the craft gnawed at him. Even then, he knew his love for art was deeper than the simple joys of a child with a coloring book. John was fascinated by the gradient of colors. He recalls being in fourth grade, drawing in class with his eight-pack of crayons. The girl beside him had a 16pack of crayons, and he remembers being enchanted by the colors.
“She had the most perfect shade of violet,” he says. “I leaned over and asked if I could use it, but she said no. I was just crushed. It’s funny how you remember those things.”
John’s passion for creating art faded into the background through middle school and high school. When he graduated, he pursued a degree in English literature and teaching from Northern Illinois University.
He taught for two years before realizing it wasn’t working. That’s when he decided
to take a road trip. John started in Chicago and drove across the country, leading him to Mount Carmel, Utah, where he stopped at a motel. He grew bored in his room, went to the front desk and asked, “What is there to do around here?”
The front desk attendant pointed him down the street, saying an artist owned a house nearby. The artist was Milford Zornes, a renowned painter known for his watercolor landscapes and whose work has been included in collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the White House.
John says he was lost at that time, painting without direction. So, he went down the street to see Zornes. He became engrossed in conversation with the painter and, before long, was invited to return for a workshop led by Zornes. John came back gladly and stayed with him for 10 days — learning to paint, yes, but also cutting weeds and helping Zornes’ elderly father build a shed.
“It was eye-opening,” John says. “He was a marvelous teacher. He owned this house
John Fennell paints in his studio at Orr Street Studios. “I painted whenever I could on vacation, but I never stopped,” he says. His artistic endeavors have flourished in retirement.
Here are a couple of places where you can check out (or buy) his art:
Columbia Art League: 207 S. Ninth St. Orr Street Studios: 106 Orr St.
and studio with horses in the front, where he’d moved in after his career in teaching. I felt like I was on some kind of mystical journey.”
Still, John had a career to return to. Back in Chicago, he began his lifelong profession as a journalist, first starting out as a copy boy, running errands and taking copy from desk to desk. All the while, he enrolled in night classes at Northwestern University, with his passion for art threading through his life like an undercurrent.
His first art show was during that time in Chicago. He was living in a flat in Logan Square, and his friends lived in the apartment above. He hung his art from the garage door in the alley and invited coworkers, friends and friends-of-friends to see it. “I even sold a few pieces,” he says with a laugh. John worked in the Chicago news industry for years. He honed his craft as a reporter on the police and court beats, hit-
ting the pavement at the City News Bureau, churning out story after story. But beneath it all, on quiet evenings or weekends, John picked up the paintbrush again and created landscapes using watercolors. Even now, he says, he returns to landscapes like a magnet.
After working in Michigan at The Herald Palladium for a year, he returned to Chicago to work as the assistant for renowned daily columnist Mike Royko at Chicago Daily News. In 1978, the newspaper folded. It was then he had to reevaluate: Should he continue down this path of daily news or pursue art, which he had come to love more and more?
“It was a frightful and bold decision to go to art school,” he says. “Daily news was my first really good living, but I decided I had no obligation to anyone but myself.”
Before long, he was enrolled at the American Academy of Art in Chicago, where he would study for two years. His days were filled with early mornings, long classes and evening restaurant shifts at
John treats his art like a full-time job, and is in his studio most weekdays. Above right is the piece “Syncopation.”
For his work, John draws inspiration from the world around him, from abstract ideas to moments in nature.
Arnie’s so he could pay rent. On Saturday mornings, John would paint and study with another painter from Chicago — Gianni Cilfoni — who taught him more about landscape painting, just in time to be back at the restaurant for the Saturday night shift.
John met Hilda during that time. She was working in the restaurant business as well, on a hiatus from her career in accounting. They got married in Chicago in 1981 and held a small wedding reception in the restaurant where John worked.
Two years later, their son, Andrew, was born. That’s when John decided it was time to get serious. He would return to his career in journalism, where he had made steady money and was sure he could find a job. He didn’t return to daily news, but instead took a couple of magazine jobs: first at a life insurance magazine, then at Step-byStep Graphics, an art magazine, and later at Milwaukee Magazine, where he served as editor in chief.
And as time went on, John painted. While at Milwaukee Magazine, he got his
master’s of arts degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. It was a busy time, he says, as he balanced art classes with a demanding editorial job.
John was 13 years into his role at Milwaukee Magazine when he got a call from the University of Missouri, asking if he would be interested in teaching magazine journalism. He eventually agreed and would go on to teach there for roughly 13 years.
For most of his adult life, John’s art was something saved for evening and weekends — a delightful respite from his work as a journalist and teacher.
When he retired, this changed immediately. He jumped headfirst into his work as an artist in 2020. Even before his retirement, he’d made his plans. He would finally start working as a full-time artist, taking the risk he hadn’t dared to in his youth. “When I started working, I didn’t want to be bored,” he says. “I wanted a job that gave me some insight into the world.
Journalism does that. Painting does that, too.”
Orr Street Studios welcomed him into the studio he takes up now. At the time, three artists shared the room, but one left, and then the other. He was given the option of renting the entire room and he agreed.
In the company of retirement artists John’s not the only one with the experience of transitioning from a lifetime career to a lifelong passion for art. Philip Peters Jr., 74, and Dave Walker, 75, both retired in Columbia and have returned to the arts.
Philip worked as a lawyer and professor of law at the University of Missouri before he retired. He painted on and off through the years, between his demanding job and raising a family. Philip moved into a workspace in Orr Street Studios in November, where he hopes to devote even more time to his paintings.
Philip says art is something he needed as a lawyer — the right brain to his left brain career.
“It’s going to be a luxury to be in the company of other artists,” Philip says of his new
studio. “I hope it’ll make my work more regular. I have a lot of ideas.”
Dave received a formal arts education but worked in health care for years before his retirement. Now, he creates massive “fabricscapes,” huge murals of rich detail sewn with fabric. These pieces take him close to 40 hours to complete — time he can afford now that he is retired. His studio is in his home, where he goes downstairs to work for hours at a time until his wife calls him back upstairs for lunch or dinner.
John, Philip and Dave have loved art for a lifetime. Each has found joy, therapy and meaning in their studios and their materials.
John says his retirement has allowed him to paint more, take greater risks and expand his repertoire. His most recent series is an unconventional collection that combines abstractions and illustration into one image.
“My life has been a search for meaningful work, for work that stimulated my imagination, for adventure, in many ways,” John says. “The adventure of art is that it doesn’t have an end. There’s always something that interests me.”
Landscapes like “View from the Bridge” (top) are a large part of John’s repertoire. He’s also been experimenting with mixing abstract and still life styles, such as “Mutuality” (left). His very first art show was in the yard of his Chicago home in 1979 (above, with “The Variety Store”). John and Hilda
Every epic journey needs a guide.
Dungeons & Dragons, a popular tabletop role-playing game, started in 1974. These Columbians lead the city’s campaigns.
Design by Valerie Tiscareno
editing by Kate Ramseyer
Adventurers hike through a dark wood. Each is laden with shining weaponry. Crickets sing, leaves whisper and the crescent moon carves a white smile in the night sky. Then, a twig snaps in the bushes, trodden on by someone — or something — big. The adventurers tense. Is it a monster? Is the party prepared for a fight? With a crash and a roar, an owlbear bursts through the trees, claws bared. The battle has begun. It’s time to roll for initiative.
For half a century, groups have been slaying monsters, conquering cities and saving the world together, all thanks to Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). From its humble beginnings in 1974 to its mainstream success in 2024, the game has come a long way through those who have enjoyed everything it has to offer.
Dungeons & Dragons is a tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) that was first published in 1974, under then-startup Tactical Studies Rules. In 1997, rights were purchased by the game publisher Wizards of the Coast. D&D is a team sport. Players, along with their guide, Greek chorus and referee (better known as a dungeon master), embark on journeys and fight battles, with a healthy dose of role-play, improv and good fun along the way.
A session usually goes like this: players bring their character sheets and miniatures, and the dungeon master (DM) brings the non-player characters (NPCs), maps, and their plans for how they want it to go. The DM guides the players through the story, asking them what they’d like to do: think of it as a choose-your-own-adventure. During combat, everyone rolls dice to move across the map, hit and give damage to their enemies, while the DM does this for the NPCs.
The DM is responsible for nearly everything in the game: Where the players go, who they meet and what they do. Oftentimes, they spend hours designing maps, fleshing out NPCs and planning the milestones on their players’ journeys. The only thing they don’t control is the players, who create their own characters. This can range from stock, pre-built characters to completely original creations. Dungeon masters are everybody else: the sheriffs, the villains and the family members of the party. On top of that, they plan and plot out a campaign’s entire story. That is, if the players don’t throw a wrench in things.
D&D, as it exists today, owes its popularity to its suffering innkeeps, iconic supervillains, goofy NPCs, enduring storylines and invested players, all built on the efforts of its arbiters — dungeon masters. Columbia is awash with DMs and dungeon crawlers alike, and Vox spoke to four longtime orchestrators about what 50 years of adventuring means to them.
Katie Burton
Owner of Valhalla’s Gate
Katie Burton played board games with her family growing up. Mom liked The Game of Life and Dad liked Monopoly (and as the banker, kept his sticky fingers in the cashbox). But Burton? Burton likes something with a little more tooth. Fangs, to be exact.
Burton has played TTRPGs since she was 16 years old. While she greatly prefers the player role to the game master role, she has run Vampire the Masquerade campaigns. She considers her best experience DMing to be introducing her children, and two other children, to D&D when they were around 10 years old.
“(My players) were like, ‘Do we have to play these premade characters? Can we develop this stuff?’ ” Burton says. “Then they started asking questions, and it became very obvious that they didn’t need me at the table, that they were going to create their own world and it was going to take off.”
Burton’s preference to remain on the other side of the table means she gets to enjoy how other DMs use their craft. She likes a surprise, and being taken on a journey. Collaborating with her friends and party members, getting excited and telling stories — at the end of a long day of adventuring, that’s all Burton wants. “I’m there for the story,” she says. “I want to act it out. I want to talk about it. I want to live it in my imagination.”
Those stories have bled into the physical world as well: The name Valhalla’s Gate is derived from another TTRPG campaign, Changelings, where a character’s game store functioned as the party’s main hub. Once the idea to open a game store became a reality, there was “only one thing (they could) name it.”
To anyone with a passing interest, Burton urges them to “just try it.” Valhalla’s Gate offers several campaigns and one-shots. It’s one of the things Burton tries to facilitate while running a game store — anyone can try anything or become anyone.
Valhalla’s Gate celebrated 24 years of business on Oct. 5.
DM style: The Valkyrie: A guide to the unknown, but a player of her own renown, Burton thrives as a beginner’s gatekeeper to the possibilities of TTRPGs. Some of her favorite moments have sprung from DMing children’s one-shots, loosening the reins and watching young players thrive, her own children included.
Years played: About 35 years
Character type: Incendiary were-badger magician
Katie Burton says what she loves about D&D is the quality time with her friends. “I want to have sessions where we want to tell other people about, ‘Oh my gosh, our characters did this amazing thing,’ and I want them to be excited to hear about the story.”
A dungeon master’s guide (like Nathen Reynolds’ above) helps DMs build worlds. Holt (right) says an important part about being a DM is thinking on your feet. “Everybody’s had moments where you realize something, the monster you’re planning on using is not what you thought it was,” Holt says. “You just have to adapt. Make it tougher, make it weaker.”
has been a D&D player since 1992. His first TTRPG experience did not leave a good impression; he was dissatisfied with how the game master ran the campaign.
“I complained about how terrible he was and why he was terrible,” Holt says. “And everyone was like, ‘Well, it sounds like you know how to run a game better,’ (and I said) ‘Ok, I guess I do.’ ” The second game Holt ever played was as a game master, and he’s “been stuck there ever since.”
To Holt, D&D endures because of its accessibility. “D&D — I find myself constantly coming back to it because, of all the flavors of role playing, it’s vanilla,” he says. “A lot of people think, oh, that means it’s boring. My favorite flavor is vanilla.”
Some of Holt’s most vivid memories of TTRPGs are rooted in a D&D parody game called Hackmaster, which Holt joined as a player with a few friends for over a decade. “That game outlived two of its players,” Holt says. His player character from that campaign took on a life of his own over the years. “He had quirks and flaws and whatnot, but that wasn’t the interesting things
about him. It was his connection to the world and the story and the other members of the party,” Holt says. “Fourteen years — you get attached to a character.”
For Holt, DMing is a creative outlet as much as it is an opportunity to have fun and spend time with friends. “If you just locked me in a room with a Sharpie and nothing else, I will eventually start writing something on the walls,” he says. Holt enjoys building a story with his players, and picks them out based on how they will challenge him. He works to make sure they’re invested. In the past, Holt has built an entire campaign around one character’s strong motivations, even sneaking twist villains under players’ noses.
“I want people to tell stories about the game years later,” Holt says. “That’s my goal.”
DM style: The Magician: Someone has to make magic happen. At his table, it’s Holt. Everything — be it victory, defeat, roleplay, character moments or puzzles — has a twist. Before you know it, you’ll be invested. Pay attention to his other hand, and not the one with the dice.
Years played: 32 years
Character type: Seasoned elf fighter
Aaron Harms
MU professor and Writing Center Director
Aaron Harms’ first D&D experience was theoretical at best. His older brothers sat him down with a character sheet, then banned him from playing. “They were 10 years older than me. I wasn’t welcome in their game,” he says.
It would be years before Harms actually played. Junior high was when he started sneaking off under the guise of going to youth group to play D&D at his friend Joey’s house for hours. “Youth group was an hour-long meeting. My parents never asked,” he says.
After going on a D&D hiatus, Harms took up the hobby again around 2015 after being invited to join a campaign. “(My wife) and I sat down at the table and were instantly hooked,” Harms says. They were doing voices for their characters, and crafting deep, tragic backstories. He said he was buying every book, doing what he calls ‘academic-ing.’ “Using academic tool sets to be a better gamer,” he says.
Harms’ group takes turns being dungeon master, which is a unique aspect of their campaign. Besides using an academic’s skillset to be a player, Harms says, “there are some really interesting conjunctions with role playing, being a dungeon master and teaching and learning.”
For Harms, one of the best parts of sitting in
the DM chair is telling stories with the people he loves. This includes intimate, loving and emotional moments like a conversation between his wife’s character and her mother, played by Harms. “For two adults, me and her, who no longer have mothers in their lives,” Harms says, “I didn’t plan that. I didn’t. The game didn’t tell me to do that.”
However, it’s not all dramatic explorations of the soul. Harms enjoys a goofy NPC, like many dungeon masters. “A lot of the folks that are my favorite NPCs are based around that kind of, ‘Do I get to do a fun voice?’ ” Harms says. Within his ranks is an NPC with a New York accent and the survival ability of an irradiated cockroach, whom his players loathe.
The point of TTRPGs is to enjoy it: “game” is in the name. For Harms, it’s a big source of excitement. “I think that is so important, particularly in our world right now, where sometimes it’s harder to find the happiness points,” he says.
DM style: The Thespian: The game board’s a stage, and the party merely players. For Harms, DMing is an opportunity to put on a mask. Beware of plot twists, a crafty chorus and backstage scheming — Harms is prepared for anything thrown at him before curtain call.
Years played: About 30 years
Character type: Amnesiac Warforged (magical automaton) sorcerer, cleric, bard triple-threat
Harms (above) says he loves D&D because it combines the fun of a board game with additional interpersonal aspects. For Reynolds (right), storytelling, improv and collaboration keep him coming back to D&D.
Are you an experienced player, or just starting out? Here’s how you can get the dice rolling.
Hexagon Alley hosts D&D one-shots with James Bratten bimonthly, for both experienced and unexperienced players; every other Monday, 6-9:30 p.m., 111 S.
Ninth St. #10.
Magelings hosts official D&D groups on Sundays, 12:30-2:30 p.m. and 3:30-5:30 p.m.; cost is $3 per session, 1906 Providence Road Suite C.
Valhalla’s Gate hosts D&D open play weekly as a great way to start if you’ve never played before, or just want to get in a relaxed session; Thursdays, 5:30 p.m, $15 per session, 2525 Bernadette Drive.
Nathen Reynolds became a dungeon master out of necessity. When he started playing D&D in high school, no one wanted to DM, so he decided to take the reins. That initial campaign was, “just an excuse to beat up on monsters,” but Reynolds was hooked. He jumped right in the deep end, and years later, he’s still swimming.
Reynolds will put on voices and plot with the best of them, but even he has his rough moments. DMs often have to problem-solve. He told a story about a friend who didn’t play, but wanted to hang out with the group. “I let her play the monster they were fighting against, and she just rolled really well and wiped the entire party,” Reynolds says. “I had to do some serious writing.”
As a DM, one person must don the masks of the party’s best friends, sketchiest allies and worst enemies. Some DMs like to create a campaign from scratch, while others like to use campaign modules (pre-written adventures from the publisher), and some DMs like both. Reynolds likes a strong villain and antagonizing his players, like in the fan-favorite Curse of Strahd D&D campaign module, where he channeled the powerhouse titular villain, Definitely-Not-Dracula.
Storytelling, improv and collaboration keep Reynolds coming back to the DM table. DMing is an art, and Reynolds is always looking to improve. “A lot of (storytelling ability) comes from your own life experiences,” Reynolds says. “(And) reading a lot, listening to other people and their experiences. All of those things can give you a stronger foundation.”
Crucially, D&D is fun — and funny. What made Reynolds realize he loved it so many years ago? Laughing.
He says it happens often with absurd dice rolls in awkward situations. “The laughter of it — I think that’s probably the thing that sticks with me the most,” Reynolds says.
Hexagon Alley is a newcomer to the games scene in Columbia and offers over 650 games to anyone interested.
DM style: The Jester: The king’s fool thrives on laughter, but is also the only court member able to insult the king to his face. For all his attention paid toward having a good time and a good laugh, Reynolds adapts to his players and the stories they tell while twisting the wind-up key in the Big Bad’s back.
Years played: 19 years
Character type: Chatty Tabaxi (feline humanoid) ranger
Collecting miniatures is a big part of D&D culture, but not every player does it. Plain figurines can be found at game stores, and players paint them, like those above. Players can also buy even smaller ones to move across the map as they play.
D&D IN THE MEDIA
Looking for Dungeons & Dragons content outside of actually playing it? Here are some groups that have found a niche as D&D podcasters, YouTubers and livestreamers to let others see how the pros do their campaigns.
Dimension 20: Also known as D20, this podcast does one session per episode, all chock full of improv comedy; dropout.tv/dimension-20.
Not Another D&D Podcast (NADDPOD): A team of four gets together to perform a campaign, whether it’s live or pre-recorded; naddpod.com.
Critical Role: This weekly show and podcast is hosted by game master Matthew Mercer and involves various voice actors, who are all part of a campaign; critrole.com.
Players, fans and dungeon masters alike use common game jargon.
Alignment: A way to describe how one’s character acts, on a spectrum of good to evil and lawful to chaotic. It helps players determine how their character might respond in some situations.
Campaign: A string of D&D sessions that people play with the same characters, picking up where they left off previously. One campaign can last months, even years, depending on how frequent sessions are or how long the players and DM want to commit.
Character sheet: A D&D character exists on a sheet of paper — or, in the modern era, in a digital profile on D&D Beyond. This will tell a player their character’s abilities, what’s in their pockets and the spells and tricks they can perform.
Class: Refers to what a character does, such as archer, wizard, swordsman, etc. Thieves are more dexterous, arms-bearing warriors are stronger and brainy mages are smarter, and so on. These characteristics are boiled down into “character stats” on a character sheet. These points influence how well a character can pull off a stunt, whether that’s lying to a guard or throwing a boulder up a mountain.
Dungeon Master/Game Master: The game organizer. This person controls the NPCs, plans out the adventure and map. Essentially, they do everything the players don’t do.
Initiative: How the order of turns is determined during combat. Before combat, every player rolls a 20-sided die. whoever rolls highest goes first, next-highest next and so on.
Non-player character (NPC): Any character that is not played by one of the players. It’s typically played by the DM, but sometimes by a younger sibling who insists on being included.
One-shot: A D&D campaign, started and completed in one session.
Race: This is what a character is — for example, elf, goblin, human, etc.
Session 0: The first game session, when the players get the lay of the land. This is typically when they build their characters, learn about the world they’ll be in and the adventures they’ll be going on in the campaign.
Tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG): Any roleplaying game played on a tabletop.
This innovation gave way to a creamed hot honey with a flavor that “sneaks up on you,” Nancy Giofre says.
The Giofres collaborate with a local farmer at Donahue’s Flame, which specializes in hot seasonings and spices. He grows, dries and roasts hot peppers to create a deliciously sweet and mouthwatering hot flavor that’s quickly turned creamed hot honey into a bestseller for the Giofres.
Giofre Apiaries offers five flavors of creamed honey, and hot honey is its second-most popular flavor behind elderberry. Its hot honey products are at local gas stations in Millersburg and area Hy-Vee locations.
Columbia restaurants are on the hot honey train as well, offering it to supplement the classics or innovating completely new dishes. Here are four to try.
Chicken and waffles
Chad Kelley, the general manager and owner of After Bite, has a warning for his customers: His hot honey is pretty hot.
Kelley cooks down a combination of Trinidad Scorpion and Carolina Reaper pepper flakes, adding the concentrate into honey. The final form is a piece of fried chicken atop a waffle lightly dusted with powdered sugar and drizzled with the fiery topping for some eye-opening late night eats.
Hot honey, along with other flavorful condiments, can supplement any dish and has been on the menu since the restaurant opened last September. The maple syrup and rosemary blackberry syrup are popular options with the chicken and waffles, but “hot honey just adds that sweet heat,” Kelley says. $12, 2900 Trimble Road, Suite 105, Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m. to 2:30 a.m., afterbitecomo.com
Hot honey maple wings
Just when you thought that sweet and spicy fusion couldn’t get any better, CJ’s made it into a wing sauce.
Notorious for all things Mizzou sports and making a mess with your food, CJ’s is secretive about its housemade wing sauce recipes. But hot honey maple is a modern twist on the modern trend.
Combining maple syrup with the spicy topping adds an extra layer of sweetness and produces a sticky yet saucy texture. The best part? You can order it with any type or quantity of wing. Just don’t forget napkins.
$11.99 for six wings, 704 E. Broadway, Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4-9 p.m.; Saturday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., cjshotwings.com
Million Dollar Breakfast Sandwich
When First Watch rolled out its fall menu to franchisees nationwide in August, it emphasized dishes with pumpkin, salted caramel, apple butter and, of course, hot honey.
The brand has partnered with Mike’s Hot Honey since 2019 on the crowd favorite Million Dollar Breakfast Sandwich. The bacon, sausage patty, Gouda cheese, lemon-dressed mixed greens and arugula on an English muffin create the perfect savory combination for hot honey to come in and pack its punch.
$13.49, 1301 Grindstone Parkway, Building D and 421 N. Stadium Blvd., Monday through Sunday, 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., firstwatch.com
GOLDIE’S BAGELS
The Blues
If you weren’t already a fan of sweet bagels, this just might do the trick. The
Giofre Apiaries produces a variety of creamed honey flavors, including hot, elderberry, blueberry and cinnamon. Find out more at thehoneyicecream people.com.
Mike’s Hot Honey popularized the spicy sweet condiment craze in the U.S. in the early 2000s. Hot honey dishes can now be found in Columbia at First Watch, CJ’s Wings and Goldie’s Bagels (below left, on The Blues sandwich).
Blues slaps a savory combo of egg, turkey bacon and muenster cheese in between the halves of a blueberry bagel, with a boldness accentuated by a hot honey drizzle.
In the usual hot honey-making process, infusing the flavors to produce its spicy flair can take up to 30 minutes. But Goldie’s keeps it simple.
“Just get honey, put a bunch of sriracha in and shake it,” says manager Grace McGuirk.
Goldie’s mixes high-quality honey with Yellow Bird sriracha, which combines hot peppers and sweet agave. The bagel shop also offers a salami, egg and cheese sandwich — also known as the SEC — on any bagel with hot honey as an addition.
$9, 114 S. Ninth St., Tuesday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., ordergoldies.com
Kathleen Neason, also known as the clown Grandma Glee, is tickled pink to be entertaining the town.
BY SYD MINOR
Grandma Glee is joy personified. She wears a long, pink-striped dress and a light-pink apron that has everything she might need. Pink flowers perch on top of her gray wig. The monochromatic outfit is accentuated by thin, triangular eyebrows, bright blush on the apples of her cheeks and mismatched pink slippers. Grandma Glee is the clown character created by Kathleen Neason. You might have seen her at local events like First Fridays or the Columbia College
Photography by Jessie Zhao
Homecoming Festival. Born into a show business family in St. Louis, Neason’s parents brought her on stage as soon as she was old enough to walk. Her father was a magician, and her mother was an acrobat, so naturally, she became a professional acrobat by the time she was 10 years old.
Working at the circus as a child, she became enamored with the clowns. Neason accompanied them to children’s hospitals where they passed out balloon
Kathleen Neason dances to the music at the Columbia College Homecoming Festival. Her pink clothing, earrings, makeup and nails encapsulate the whimsical nature of her persona.
animals; this was her first introduction to the magic of balloon art. “I was a kid, too, you know,” Neason says. “I still think they’re fun, but when I was a kid I really thought (clowns) were fun.” Some of her clown specialties now include balloon art, magic and dance. Despite the early introduction to clowning around, she didn’t make it her profession until she retired from nursing. For most of her life, she worked as a flight nurse, ICU and ER nurse or with
home hospice. After retiring, Neason decided to attend the Midwest Magic Jubilee in 2023. Her father, along with the Society of American Musicians, created the annual magic convention during the 1950s in St. Louis.
At the Jubilee, she connected with Jill Schmidt, also known as Silly Jilly, and they instantly became friends. Neason joined Schmidt for a road trip to a
clown camp in Wisconsin that offered classes on balloon twisting, magic and the psychology of audiences. Attending clown camp is what reconnected her with her love of performing, she says.
Being around a group of like-minded performers also helped Neason develop Grandma Glee. While in Wisconsin, Neason visited a museum with a clown exhibit and saw one of the original
Jubilee Forbess, Neason’s assistant, updates Grandma Glee’s balloon menu whiteboard for the Columbia College Homecoming Festival. As they travel to a variety of festivals, the signage is everchanging.
You can hire Grandma Glee for your event by calling 573-8190566 or by visiting grandmaglee.com.
names for a clown was “gleeman,” so she settled on “Glee” for her character’s name. This name perfectly aligned with Neason’s goal of spreading wholesome joy.
“I feel that this could be a really ugly world with hatred and prejudice and wars and everything else,” Neason says. “And there’s not a lot I can do about that myself. (But) I have the ability to smile. And if I can pass that smile to someone, then it’s gonna ripple.”
Grandma Glee regularly performs at First Fridays in the North Village Arts District. “Every time she comes out, everybody loves it,” says Lisa Bartlett, a member on the arts district board. “I’ll see these kids and adults wearing the balloon hats that she makes or carrying around really fun animals, and she makes everyone happy.”
In addition to events, she has a Rent-A-Grandma service for those who want some glee on any other day of the week, spreading even more joy throughout Columbia with her clown persona.
by Jessie Zhao
Your curated guide of what to do in Columbia this month.
Visit the exhibit from Stonewall National Museum Archives & Library, hosted by MU’s LGBTQ Resource Center and University Libraries. The exhibit features 15 people who have made recent historic contributions to the community. Meant to promote understanding, the exhibit preserves the culture of these communities. Runs through Dec. 13, first floor Ellis Library, ask@missouri.email. libanswers.com
Searching for a merry good time while shopping? Look no further than the State Historical Society of Missouri’s Annual Holiday Open House. Find gifts made by popular Missouri artisans and visit with Santa, Mrs. Claus and the Grinch while enjoying warm refreshments. Dec. 7, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., 605 Elm St., free, 573-8827083, contact@shsmo.org
Nutcracker! Magical Christmas Ballet
Feel the holiday cheer with this beloved family tradition. Enjoy a world-class ballet with whimsical puppets and lavish costumes from the University of Missouri Concert Series. Dec. 9, 7 p.m., Jesse Auditorium, $40-$60, 573-882-3781
Looking for a good laugh? Watch Talking Horse Productions stage a battle of facts versus truth between a fresh-out-of-Harvard fact checker and a talented writer. Dec. 6-8 and 12-15; 7:30 p.m., Talking Horse Productions, $20; $18 seniors and students, 573-607-1740, talkinghorseproductions@gmail.com
There’s no place like the theater, so click your heels and follow the yellow brick road to Stephens College. Watch the Stephens
College Conservatory for the Performing Arts puts on the classic Wizard of Oz Dec. 12-15, 7:30 p.m., Macklanburg Playhouse, $15, 573-876-7199, boxoffice@stephens. edu
Don’t be a Scrooge this holiday season enjoy Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre’s rendition of A Christmas Carol with family and friends. This year’s 10th anniversary production is expected to be filled with new and exciting surprises. Dec. 13-15 and Dec. 17-22, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., 114 High St., Arrow Rock, $20-$52, 660-837-3608, susan@arrowrockvillage.com
Check out City of Refuge’s second annual outdoor holiday market. Peruse local artisan work with hot drinks, food and entertainment, complete with a visit from Santa. Proceeds benefit refugee care and programming. Dec. 7, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., 10 N. Garth Ave., 573-454-1552
Elodie Tinsley and her mom, Corrie Tinsley, attended the 2023 Living Windows Festival. During the festival, regular displays in shop windows are replaced by performers. Embrace the holiday spirit with shopping, holiday decor, carriage rides and a visit with Santa. Dec. 6, 6-8 p.m., The District, 573-4426816
Stop by Columbia Farmers Market’s annual Thanksgiving Market, where you can find local ingredients and goodies for your Thanksgiving table. Take advantage of the option to pick up or preorder products. Nov. 26, 3-6 p.m., MU Health Care Pavilion at Columbia’s Agriculture Park, 573-823-3190
Join Dwelling Well Foundation’s Spice for Shelter Chili Cook Off, where amateurs and seasoned chefs alike can compete for the Chili Champion title. The money raised will be donated to local families for critical home repairs. Dec. 8, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Bur Oak Brewing Company, $25 to enter and $10 to taste, 573-540-9589
Done enough shopping for the day? Come get your groove on with some 1990s and
2000s throwbacks from this mid-Missouri hip hop and R&B cover band. Nov. 29, 8 p.m., The Blue Note, $10-$20, 573-874-1944
Didn’t get the chance to hear “Pink Pony Club” live? Embrace it in spirit at this Chappell Roanthemed dance party. Bring your dancing shoes and ring in the holiday season by paying tribute to the Missouri native. Dec. 7, 9 p.m., The Blue Note, $15-$35, 573-874-1944
Take in some holiday rock music inspired by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and performed by classically trained musicians who are on their 17th touring season. The choreography will keep you on the edge of your seat, complete with lasers and fog. Dec. 6, 7 p.m., Jesse Auditorium, $42-$59, 573-882-3781
With the year coming to an end, there’s nothing like a hometown rock band to ring in good tidings. Jam out with your friends while supporting Toys for Tots, and build the anticipation by listening to Dark Below’s self-titled debut album, released this past May. Dec. 7, 9 p.m., The Blue Note, $15$35, 573-874-1944
This 20-year tradition from the MU School of Music combines all brass sections for a guaranteed good time. Bring your family to hear various holiday classics. Dec. 7, 7 p.m., Missouri United Methodist Church, $20; free for students, 573356-6041 or sms.dickerson@gmail.com
Eager for some holiday spirit? The Missouri Symphony Orchestra promises some festive cheer. Listen to holiday favorites from around the world at this family-friendly concert. Dec. 15, 2 p.m., Missouri Theatre, $10-$39; free for children under 17, 573-875-0600 or info@themosy.org
What’s better than working on a puzzle inside during the cold of winter? Stop by the Columbia Public Library to enjoy puzzling. Grab one of your old puzzles to swap with someone else as you enjoy the warmth of winter puzzling in the comfort of others’ most loved jigsaws. Dec. 7, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Columbia Public Library, 573-4433161
PHOTOGRAPHY BY AUSTIN JOHNSON
Remember snow? Last winter’s first snowstorm on Jan. 9 is a reminder of the weather that’s to come. Photographer Austin Johnson used a drone to capture this image of tire marks atop a parking garage in downtown Columbia. “Drone photography can make what looks boring or ordinary from the ground incredibly beautiful from the air,” Johnson says. As the city prepares for winter, plow drivers remain scarce for the fifth year in a row — almost 400 employees short. Learn more about how the city clears its streets (which includes using beet juice!) at como.gov.
