Vox Magazine December 2018

SAY CHEESE! THE YEAR IN PHOTOS PAGE 18

FROM SEGREGATED TO EDUCATED PAGE 28

ASIAN EATERIES ARE ON THE RISE PAGE 44

WINTER IS COMING: DEFEND YOUR SKIN PAGE 47

THE VOICE OF COLUMBIA • DECEMBER 2018

Must Love Pets

What to buy, where to board and how to pick the perfect furry (or not) companion.

Our guide to owning a pet and why it makes us happier.

PAGE 36

I SERVE LUNCH AT MY CHILD’S SCHOOL, BUT STILL CAN’T AFFORD TO PUT FOOD ON OUR TABLE. Melissa, Michigan

HUNGER IS A STORY WE CAN END. FEEDINGAMERICA.ORG

Happy Holidays

from the University Concert Series

DECEMBER Noel

Wednesday, December 5 | Jesse Auditorium The stunning new holiday musical from top-selling children’s author Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl) and award-winning Irish film composer Liam Bates. NOEL The Musical makes its North American debut at Jesse Auditorium in Columbia on 12/5. Get tickets now for this wonderful family show!

The Ultimate Christmas Show (abridged) Wednesday, December 12 | Missouri Theatre

Welcome to the Annual Holiday Variety Show and Christmas Pageant at St. Everybody’s Non-Denominational Universalist Church. It’s an irreverent, yet heartwarming trip through holiday traditions. Let the Royal Shakespeare Company rekindle the joy, inner-child, and familial dysfunction inside us all. Don’t wait until the last minute, get tickets today

BOX OFFICE

203 S 9th Street | Columbia

573-882-3781

www.concertseries.org

FROM THE EDITOR

DOG YEARS

I

’ve grown up with dogs my entire life. Black labs to be specific. My dad loves to hunt, and to him, there are no better hunting dogs than labs. That didn’t mean a thing to me. As a kid who lived outside of traditional suburbia, they were my best friends. Sam was the first, then Paul, then Mike (named after Michael Jordan, of course) Baxter, Hank and Bud. Naturally, we had to have small dogs, too. So we added Alli, Jimmy and Charles, all lhasa apsos.

At any one time, we had as many as four dogs running around our house.

They were more than my tennis-ball catchers and reluctant “horsies.” They taught me responsibility, how to care for others and most of all, to always chase what you want — even if it’s a small rabbit you’re never going to catch.

They chewed up my shoes and ate the food off my plate when I wasn’t looking — I’ve never seen a dog as happy as when it eats a fully cooked steak out from underneath your nose.

But they were eternally loyal and loving, providing respite for us on

E DI T OR -I N -CHI E F KEEGAN POPE DE PUT Y E DI T OR STEN SPINELLA M AN AGI N G E DI T OR ELIZABETH ELKIN

“I’ve never seen a dog as happy as when it eats a fully cooked steak out from under your nose.”

DI GI TAL M AN AGI N G E DI T O R MCKENNA BLAIR ON L I N E E DI T OR LAUREN PUCKETT ART DI R E CT OR S MOLLY NAGEL, KELLYN NETTLES PHOT O E DI T OR JESSI DODGE M ULT I M E DI A E DI T OR HUNTER BASSLER

AS S I S TAN T E D IT O RS CULT UR E JENNA ALLEN,

the best and worst of days. In return, they required only food, water and an occasional scratch on the head or walk down the street.

Now that I’m away from home, I desperately miss those things. I’ve considered adopting a dog of my own, but 20-somethings who are only at their apartment to sleep most days don’t make very good caretakers.

In this month’s issue, we’ve compiled a guide (p. 36) to owning a pet in Columbia. Whether it’s the costs you can expect, where to board your animals when you have to leave town or what essential gear you’ll need, we’re here to help. If you’re not quite ready for that furry friend yet, there’s a list of places you can volunteer and spend time around animals without the commitment of owning one. As for me, I’ll be living vicariously through every dog account I follow on Instagram.

KELSEY HURWITZ, BOBBI WATTS E AT + DR I N K ELIZABETH QUINN, CATHERINE WENDLANDT CI T Y L I F E LAUREN LOMBARDO, LIBBY MOELLER, ROSEMARY SIEFERT CON T R I B UT I N G W R I T E R S JARED ANDREWS, JESSE BAALMAN, SADIE COLLINS, SIOBHAN CONNORS, SHANNON HENDERSON, CHRISTINA LONG, HANNAH MUSICK, LUCY SHANKER, SAVANNAH WALSH DI GI TAL E DI T OR S KAELYN ADIX, CAMERON FLATT, JENNA GRUNDTNER, MCKAYLA HELM, JOHN HENIFF, ALEXA HODGES, NAT KAEMMERER, CONNOR LAGORE, HAYLEY ODOM, ABBEY PERANO, MADI SKAHILL, GABBY VELASQUEZ M ULT I M E DI A E DI T OR S HOPE HOWARD, FENGXALIN LI, ANTOINETTE MILLER, MEGAN SMALTZ, ZIXUAN ZHAO

E DI T OR I AL DI R E CT OR HEATHER LAMB DI GI TAL DI R E CT OR SARA SHIPLEY HILES E XE CUT I V E E DI T OR JENNIFER ROWE OF F I CE M AN AGE R KIM TOWNLAIN

BEHIND THE STORY I was born and raised in Columbia, so when I joined a Facebook group called “You know you’re from Columbia MO when …,” I figured I’d found my tribe. There, I stumbled upon a post from Jim Nunnelly where he told the story of a protest at a Columbia restaurant called the Minute Inn. Even as a townie, I had no idea the Inn was the precursor to the Broadway Diner, and I was also unaware of its racially divisive past. On a whim, I messaged Jim to learn his story. After 10 months of interviewing, driving back and forth to Kansas City, and digging through the State Historical Society of Missouri files — with tremendous help from VOX editors and from Jim himself — I had pieced together the “Sit-In at the Minute Inn.” — Lauren Puckett

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VOX MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2018

@VoxMag

@VoxMagazine

VoxMag

ADVERTISING 882- 5714 CIRCULATION 882- 5700 EDITORIAL 884- 6432 vox@mi sso u ri . e d u

KEEGAN POPE Editor-in-Chief

CORRECTION: In the November issue, the “Clueless about the ‘90s?” story misstated how Maude Vintage acquires clothing from the community. It purchases the items.

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MAGAZINE Cover Design by Molly Nagel with photography by Yehyun Kim

FEATURES

18

Photos of the Year

2018 was a year full of memorable moments, whether it was a political rally or a prom makeover. Vox selected some of the year’s most compelling pictures from our photographers.

BY VOX STAFF

28

Sit-In at the Minute Inn

After being thrown from a Columbia diner during a protest in 1960, Jim Nunnelly pursued a life of volunteerism to benefit black youth throughout Missouri.

BY LAUREN PUCKETT

36

Must Love Pets They say dogs are man’s best friend, but what about all the other animals? Whether your pal is four-legged or confined to a fish bowl, there’s something for you in this guide.

BY VOX STAFF

Photography by India Garrish

VOX MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2018

5

SECTIONS

9

IN THE LOOP

CULTURE

7

13

Boss Taco heads downtown.

Finish up your holiday shopping at First Fridays.

Let’s Taco ’Bout It 8

Help Your Home Goodbye, high utility bills.

9

How do we teach students about sexual identity?

16

43

47

If You Give CoMo a Cookie...

Give back this December.

12

17

Meet Rock Bottom’s co-owner.

Novels to help teens with their mental health.

44

VR and AR: tech’s future?

46

6

Banish dry skin this winter.

48

CoMo’s Asian restaurant scene is bigger than ever.

Reality Check

43

50

50

Fútbol for All Soccer on Stankowski brings strangers together.

Hartsburg’s New Main Course

51

Food and family collide at this freshly opened eatery.

Finding the right stylist can be a hair-pulling task.

VOX MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2018

Reading My Mind

Keep It Glossy

There’s definitely no sugar shortage here.

What’s On the Menu?

Mo’ Albums Missouri-born musicians delivered top records this year.

Hooked On Comics

CITY LIFE

Five Voices, One Home Home Free brings holiday cheer to CoMo.

Vox Picks

EAT + DRINK

15

Identity Crisis

11

16

Festive Finds

Seeking Out Salons

Photography by and courtesy of Hazel Dunn, Jason Vance and Yehyun Kim Illustration by Sadie Collins

STAY WARM,

TURNING PASSION

SAVE MONEY. P.8

INTO PROFESSION P.12

Let’s taco ’bout it Inspired by Texas food truck culture, a ‘boss’ brings her business downtown.

BY ABIGAIL PERANO When Lindsey Spratt graduated from MU in 2001, she wasn’t sure where to turn next. She decided to move to Austin, Texas, and juggled jobs until she had the opportunity to rethink her career. She wanted to cook.

Eight years later, she came back to Columbia to break into the restaurant business with a new take on tacos. Drawing inspiration from Austin’s food culture, Spratt made it a priority to bring authentic Mexican flavors to Columbia.

She launched her catering company, Boss Taco, in 2014 with Taco Tuesdays at Logboat Brewing Co. What started as a way to offer eats at bars is now an expansion bigger than she’d ever imagined. She plans to open a restaurant space for Boss Taco by the end of the year at 201 N. 10th St.

Green chile pork taco from Boss Taco

Photography by Derek Rieke

VOX MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2018

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IN TH E LOOP TIPS & TRICKS

Help out your home It’s no winter wonderland dealing with high energy costs. Conserve cash with these money-saving hacks.

BY MIMI WRIGHT

W

inter is coming — and so are expensive electricity bills. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average home used more than 7,500 kilowatt-hours of electricity last winter. It’s time to debunk myths and lay down facts about energy-saving techniques to help you save some cold hard cash in this cold hard weather.

MYTH: Set the thermostat higher to heat your home faster.

REALITY: When Columbia goes arctic, hold onto as much warmth you can, but don’t set the thermostat too high.

Brandon Renaud, residential energy services supervisor for Columbia utilities, says raising the temperature will cause your pump or furnace to run longer. “It will still heat your home up at the same pace,” Renaud says. Set the temperature between 68 and 70 degrees for optimal efficiency.

FACT: Use LED holiday lights to save energy.

ADVICE: Energy.gov recommends LED lights, which save money in the long run.

LED lights burn cooler than incandescents, which reduces the risk of combustion, and they last longer, too. Now decorate away, you Martha Stewart, you!

FACT: Close your fireplace damper to reduce energy costs.

ADVICE: As you’re curled up watching a favorite holiday movie while sipping hot chocolate, warm air could be escaping up the chimney. Renaud says fireplaces force air out due to pressure and warm air rising. Keep your fireplace damper closed unless you have a fire burning. Just make sure to reopen it for when Santa arrives.

MYTH: Close the vents and registers in unused rooms to save money.

FACT: Cover windows with plastic

REALITY: Trying to heat your room like a

to prevent drafts.

sauna by closing other vents around your house? Think again. Renaud says when you close registers, it actually puts strain on the other areas of the system because it increases pressure in the ducts, causing leakage and wasting energy. With a blanket or two, you can still sleep comfortably and wake up like a happy, warm burrito.

ADVICE: Renaud says covering windows is an effective option to keep out unwanted cold, especially for renters feeling like human popsicles. According to energy.gov, 30 percent of a home’s heating energy is lost through windows. Secure clear plastic film to the inside of the window frame, or install tightly fitting drapes. Keep south-facing window drapes open to receive sunlight, and close them at night to prevent cold air from leaking in.

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VOX MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2018

Illustration by Kellyn Nettles

I N T HE LO O P ESSAY

Identity crisis

Posters at Gentry Middle School explaining sexual identity created an outcry, but what’s the right way to talk to students about the topic?

BY NOAH HIGGINS-DUNN

I

t’s been nearly 10 years since I roamed the halls of my middle school in the suburbs of Kansas City, and for the most part, I performed the rituals of childhood like my peers.

I tried playing baseball but quit because my coach only let his son pitch.

My parents knew I wasn’t very good at soccer, but they let me try anyway. My time in dance was short; the girls were intimidating, and I cried through every session. I once attempted dating a girl, too, but I knew it wasn’t right. I wasn’t sure why or how, but from an early age I knew I liked boys.

Navigating sexuality and gender identity as a teenager is hard, but living in an unbefitting heterosexual shell is harder. By the time I entered high school, I had attended endless sex-ed courses, year after year, but not once was I taught what it meant to be gay.

The feelings for girls my teachers said would develop never did. Eventually, I assumed I was the odd one out.

Noah Higgins-Dunn attended Congress Middle School in Kansas City. His yearbook brings back memories of an earlier time.

Conversations around sexual identity have changed a lot since then.

Parents vs. posters Basketball tryouts were underway when I visited Gentry Middle School one late afternoon in September 2018 after the final bell. Boys were gathered outside the gym, donning white jerseys and lacing up their court shoes. Erin Maynard, an outreach counselor at the school, escorted me past the huddle of hopeful preteen boys who began filing into the gym just as the girls shuffled out.

Not far from the traffic at the gym door was our destination: A glass display case featuring a stuffed toy jaguar with a rainbow flag wrapped around its neck. Framing the school’s mascot were posters of flags representing LGBTQ sub-communities such as transgender, Photography courtesy of Hazel Dunn and illustrated by Kellyn Nettles

lesbian, pansexual, genderfluid and genderqueer.

Steps down the hall, underneath a row of college pennants, posters of notable celebrities, such as Miley Cyrus and Laverne Cox, who identify with each community, lined the wall. The signs had been sporadically arranged around the building by the students.

Maynard is a co-sponsor of the school’s newly founded Gay-Straight Alliance and, alongside the organization’s other co-sponsor, Caitlin Cunningham, the group devised the exhibit to celebrate LGBT History Month, which occurs in October. Its existence, however, inflamed the community immediately.

The display constructed to answer students’ questions provoked even more from parents and a local radio host.

A teachable moment Gary Nolan, a self-proclaimed libertarian, calls himself “America’s Voice of Liberty.” In the middle of Nolan’s show on KSSZ/93.9 FM on Oct. 19, less than a week after the display was put up, he mentioned the posters, saying he was “disturbed by it.” He urged listeners to call the district, encouraging them to tell the school “to take this poop down.”

“Now, if you ask me, when you put up a word and a definition, that’s teaching. You’re teaching somebody,” Nolan said on the show. “Based on state law, I

don’t think they have the authority to do this in middle school because state law dictates that these lessons that are taught be taught to age-appropriate kids.”

Nolan was referring to a Missouri statute that requires, among other things, that the school district notify parents or legal guardians of the content of “human sexuality instruction,” which solidifies their right to remove their child from any part of the discussion.

Cunningham, however, says sex education and teaching sexual and gender orientation are not necessarily the same lesson. The display was for LGBTQ History Month and meant to celebrate LGTBQ identity and notable icons, rather than provide the instruction Nolan argued against.

“A lot of times, people equate talking about gender and sexuality with sex and the idea that you’re promoting promiscuity or sexual activity,” Cunningham says. “And it’s because part of those conversations automatically include the attraction aspect of it.”

Yet, when I was in middle school, no one shielded me from discussions that promoted heterosexuality as the normal or preferred orientation. Most students, regardless of their orientation, are provided heteronormative curriculum and activities from an early age. Seven states still incorporate “no promo homo” laws that ban teachers from providing any VOX MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2018

9

IN TH E LOOP ESSAY

discussion about the LGBTQ community in sex education and, in some instances, require teachers to discourage homosexuality as a “lifestyle.” Even with the growing number of gay-straight alliances like Gentry’s that provide resources nationwide, LGBTQ students are generally forced to apply heterosexual education to their own experiences.

Classroom conversations But Becca Mui, education manager for the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, a national organization working to create LGBTQ-friendly schools, says that the classroom is a good place for these discussions to happen in the most age-appropriate way.

“These conversations belong in school where students are sent to learn about themselves, as well as the world around them,” Mui writes in an email.

“This ensures that students are having these conversations and lessons with their peers, from an educated professional, and in a developmentally appropriate way.”

GLSEN found in a 2017 survey of

students ages 13 to 21 in the LGBTQ community that nearly 65 percent reported no representation of LGBTQ topics in any of their curriculum. Since 2001, the percentage of students reporting positive inclusion of LGBTQ issues in school has hovered below 20 percent.

Equating lessons about LGBTQ identity with sex education remains one of the biggest obstacles preventing schools from implementing inclusive curriculum, Mui writes. Another obstacle is the fear of push-back from parents and family members, which is why it’s important for school administrators to be supportive of inclusive topics and adopt policies safeguarding a respectful learning environment.

Mui says the best practice is to unite the school community in the mission of accepting and respecting community members whatever their sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.

With the growing visibility of LGBTQ people in popular culture and the number of kids coming out as LGBTQ and gender-nonconforming, Mui says it’s more important than ever

that schools serve as places where students can discuss identity and dispel stereotypes in a safe space.

RESOURCES AND EDUCATION For local LGBTQ resources, check out these orgs: MU’s LGBTQ Resource Center 884-7750 lgbtq.missouri.edu Missouri Crisis Line 445-5035 PFLAG Columbia 819-3604 The Center Project 449-1188 thecenterproject. com

Higgins-Dunn as a sixth-grader, growing out his bangs in an attempt to look more like Justin Bieber.

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VOX MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2018

Finding a compromise On the Monday after Nolan’s show, Gentry Principal Fairouz Bishara sent a letter to parents signaling the school had reached a compromise: Posters depicting celebrities in each sub-community would come down, but the definitions and the display case would remain. “It is not our intention, by any means, to advocate for any type of sexual orientation nor to encourage sexual activity, but to promote compassion and empathy for others,” Bishara wrote.

Cunningham acknowledges it wasn’t a complete win, but “it is also not the elimination of representation for this community and its allies.”

From the onset, Cunningham expected a reaction like the angry emails from parents. If someone didn’t say something, if the display failed to generate a conversation, then she says it didn’t educate enough. “It’s the fear of that unknown that causes people to react the way they do, when they send those kind of emails,” she says.

As for the future of the new GayStraight Alliance, the co-sponsors have their visions for the organization, but they’re going to leave it up to the students to decide.

“I want for our students, whoever they are, to feel like people are seeing them,” Maynard says. “And they’re not alone in this, and that they’re not being forgotten.”

A display like Gentry’s, or even a display at all, would’ve never been found in my school. The glass case represents a small victory for a newly born middle school Gay-Straight Alliance, but the battle begs the question: Are we willing to discover the unknown?

It’s the same daunting question that propels every LGBTQ kid on a quest, often alone, to uncover their identity.

The path is evident for some, but for others the mission is onerous, the challenge exhausting. In every school, in every state, it’s time we explore answers together.

Photography courtesy of Hazel Dunn

I N T HE LO O P VOX PICKS

Vox’s picks for

DECEMBER

Each month, Vox curates a list of can’t-miss shops, eats, reads and experiences in and around Columbia. In the spirit of the holidays, we highlight opportunities to give back and spread cheer.

BY LAUREN LOMBARDO

Buy…

A wreath from the Downtown Optimist Club’s Christmas tree lot. The organization donates and dedicates time to the personal development of Columbia youth through service. The lot also features Christmas trees, Koeze nuts and candies for sale.

Mon.–Thurs., 1–7 p.m.; Fri., 1–8 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sun., 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., 1201 Grand Ave., 874-9327

Host…

A holiday drive for Rainbow House of Columbia. ’Tis the season to give back to a child or family in need. Collect items, such as video games, DVDs, or canned fruits and veggies, from the provided wish list to donate.

Mon.–Fri., 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Rainbow House, 1611 Towne Drive, 474-6600

Drink…

A freshly brewed cup of joe at DrinKraft. Growing up in Columbia, Camacho Coffee owners Jesse and Megan Walters made it their mission to give back to the community. For every ounce of coffee sold, the company gives 10 percent of its profits to a charity or nonprofit, such as Great Circle, Youth Empowerment Zone and the Central Missouri Humane Society.

Mon.–Fri., 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., DrinKraft, 300 N. Tenth St., $4.88 for a cold brew; $3.25 for a hot cup, 777-5555

Run…

For a reason with this season’s Jingle Bell Run. No matter if you jog or walk the 5K, you’ll be racing to raise funds for the fight to cure arthritis. So throw on your Santa hat, grab some friends and join the holiday-themed run. All registration fees and donations contribute to the Arthritis Foundation.

Dec. 8, 7:15 a.m., check-in; 8 a.m. race; John and Mary Silverthorne Arena, $30–75 to run; free to volunteer, 314-447-4881

Photography by Julia Hansen

VOX MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2018

11

IN TH E LOOP Q+A

As Rock Bottom Comics celebrates its 45th year, James Cagle still remembers the first time he stepped into the establishment at 11 years old.

Fantastic Four has a lot of promise to it.

Immortal Hulk, I haven’t been able to read a single issue of because it continuously sells out. Marvel’s handling of the Star Wars properties has been phenomenal — particularly Darth Vader.

Why do you think comics attract people across generations?

The combination of the visual art and narrative — it just really comes together.

It is accessible, and one of the beautiful things about archetypal characters is that they speak to many people. The fact that there is so many different types of comic books and you can put any type of genre in a comic book.

Do you think Ms. Marvel and other diverse characters have led people into the shop who otherwise might not have sought out comics?

One of the things that Marvel started, and I think DC jumped onto later, was hiring writers outside of the comic industry — screenwriters, television writers. When we had successful diversity in comics, that didn’t hurt. Multiple billion-dollar movies certainly didn’t hurt either. The female reader base is bigger than it’s ever been, and it’s great. At one point a guy would come in and his girlfriend would be like, ‘Ugh.’ And so now I see women bringing their boyfriends in, and the boyfriends clearly not caring about this crap, but they’re putting up with it. I’m like, ‘Oooh, how the times have changed.’

Hooked on comics Rock Bottom Comics’ co-owner James Cagle carries on the love of comic books he developed as boy. BY CONNOR WORLEY

J

ames Cagle’s fascination with comic books started when he was 8 years old. If Cagle behaved and did his weekly chores around the house, a family friend would bring him a stack of comics. A few years into this arrangement, Cagle tore one of the issues, which eventually led Cagle to Rock Bottom Comics. Four decades later, he now manages and co-owns Rock Bottom with founder Glenn Brewer.

In his teenage years, this Columbia native became affectionately known at Rock Bottom as a “shop rat.” He spent nearly every moment there, and at 19, he was offered a job. Then, one morning the manager handed the keys to Cagle.

“Don’t f--- this up,” the manager said

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VOX MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2018

as he walked off. Since that moment in 1987, Cagle has been a fixture at the store, eager to share his passion with customers. “There are literally people who come down here, who budget an hour of their time, to listen to James talk about comics and movies,” Brewer says.

Who was the first superhero you remember latching on to?

Iron Fist. But, the one I remember more than any other, just being like ‘this is my guy,’ was Iron Man. What are some of the best comic book runs happening right now?

Jason Aaron’s Thor. He’s been around for five or six years. It’s incredible. The

Rock Bottom Comics 1013 E. Walnut St. Tue., noon to 5 p.m.; Wed., noon to 7 p.m.; Thurs.– Fri., 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sun., noon to 5 p.m.

Marvel and DC have ramped up advertising for their respective digital subscription services. How do digital sales affect local shops?

The estimates I’ve been hearing are that at most digital accounts for about 12 percent of the industry. When the trades started coming out — or graphic novels — people were like: ‘Oh my god! The sky is falling! Single issues are gone.’ Of course, it never happened. I know for some people reading is more than just the words. It’s an overall tactile experience. It’s the weight, it’s the feel, it’s the smell.

Photography by Derek Rieke

A RECORD YEAR FOR

BECAUSE WORDS

MISSOURI ALBUMS P.16

MATTER P.17

Making a list The city’s arts district might be your best place to find gifts outside of Santa’s workshop.

BY KATHERINE STATER Check two things off your list with this month’s First Fridays gallery crawl, hosted Dec. 7 in the North Village Arts District. You can meet local artists and perfect the art of giving all at once. Turn the page for gift ideas we found at the standing booths of Artlandish Gallery, including this necklace (above) made of colorful clay beads.

Photography by Di Pan

VOX MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2018

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CULTURE ART

Bead necklaces Carl Williams has been designing and creating necklaces and pendants with ceramic beads for eight years. Williams, the owner of WILLIAMS HANDMADE CRAFTS, makes the beads using a pottery wheel, then dries and splatters them with paint.

He then fires the beads in a kiln, which brings out an array of colors in the clay.

It might be unconventional, but not all of his necklaces close with a clasp; for particularly light pieces, he just bends the wires at an angle. From Nov. 23 to Dec. 25, all of his jewelry will be 20percent off.

Cost: $8-45 Contact: 228-8208 Ice-dyed clothes Using untraditional measures, Liz Mitchell creates dyed clothing for her business GREETINGS FROM EARTH. She uses a technique called ice dyeing, placing ice cubes with dye on top of the clothing.

As the ice melts, the dye bleeds together into a pattern that’s less calculated than one created through typical tie-dye methods.

Cost: $25-30 for T-shirts, $7.50-15 for baby onesies and bandannas, $35-40 for skirts, $50 for dresses Contact: 673-3053 Copper jewelry After a biking accident that shattered both his wrists in 2003, MICHAEL HARPER was told his hands would have severe arthritis. In hopes of staving off the condition, he began shaping old copper wires into jewelry. A few years ago, he began incorporating stones.

Harper coats the pieces in multiple layers of clear lacquer to prevent the copper from discoloring your skin.

Cost: $9 for rings; $9-18 for bracelets; $18-36 for necklaces Contact: 823-5724 Paintings began painting about six years ago as a way to express her emotions. When she was still working as a diabetes educator nurse, she dreamed about taking a day off to paint. Now that she is retired, she has time to be a NANCY PALMER

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VOX MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2018

full-time artist. She loves to create faces, but she never starts her works with a plan in mind. “I just paint whatever emerges,” she says. “I’ve tried to paint with a plan, and that does not work for me.” She mainly uses acrylic, and most of her works are on canvas, but she’s also completed some on wood and Masonite.

Cost: $50-150 Contact: 819-1974 Knit hats Knitting has become a way to de-stress for Jill Wren, who owns GRANNY’S GURU and is the single mom of a 3-year-old and 17-year-old. Her favorite hats to knit right now are messy bun hats, which are hats with a hole in the back that allows space for a ponytail or bun.

Recently, she has been making hats like those worn by women during last year’s

In addition to knitting items for sale, Jill Wren, top, serves as a cashier at Artlandish Gallery. She oversees customers perusing recycled candles, above left, as well as her own hats, above right.

FIRST FRIDAYS The first Friday of every month, 6–9 p.m. in the North Village Arts District

Women’s March. She typically makes her hats with blended yarn so they can withstand multiple washes.

Cost: $22-26 Contact: 319-230-3813 Candles In April, Paula Vanlandingham started creating upcycled candles for her business, ANTIDOTE GOODS. She makes them by melting down half-used candles.

Sometimes, she’ll blend the melted wax together; other times, she’ll pour it into distinct layers. Because she recycles candles, her creations might be scented or not depending on the candles’ original scents. Vanlandingham will be doing holiday-themed scents in December.

Cost: $4-7 Contact: 819-6865 Photography by Di Pan

C U LT U RE MUSIC

Five voices, one home Christmas bells are ringing, and Home Free will be singing as the group returns to Columbia.

BY KELSEY HURWITZ

S

ince its first cover of a Florida Georgia Line song on NBC’s reality-TV competition show The Sing-Off, Home Free has gained recognition. The five-man a cappella group from Minneapolis made a name for itself on the show by remixing country songs such as Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” and Zac Brown Band’s “Colder Weather” to work with the members’ five-part harmony.

They went on to win the competition, bagging $100,000 and a Sony recording contract in 2013. Since then, the group has toured outside of North America and is playing at increasingly larger venues.

On Dec. 20, Home Free will perform

This year the group celebrates its third annual Christmas tour with (from left) Adam Chance, Tim Foust, Austin Brown, Adam Rupp and Rob Lundquist.

IF YOU GO

Jesse Auditorium, Dec. 20, 7 p.m. doors; 8 p.m. show, $19.50 and up, 882-3781

at Jesse Auditorium as part of its Christmas tour. The last time the group was in Columbia, it played back-to-back soldout shows at The Blue Note in 2016. This time the band has been upgraded to the larger venue, which seats over 1,600 people and is expected to be full, says Nick Snyder, marketing manager for The Blue Note. The group has managed to earn some pretty hardcore fans, or “Home Fries” as they’re called, such as Eleanor

Dennison. When she attends the Columbia show, it will be her 66th live Home Free performance. The group’s energy, charisma and harmonic sound made her an instant fan. She’s since traveled to 12 states and Canada to see them perform.

For this Christmas tour, the band will play a combination of classic Christmas remixes such as “Do You Hear What I Hear?” and “White Christmas” as well as some country fan favorites. 

MID-MISSOURI’S HOME FOR ALL THE HITS!

LISTEN LIVE AT Q1061.COM • DOWNLOAD THE Q 106.1 MOBILE APP /Q1061HITS @Q1061 Photography courtesy of David McClister

VOX MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2018

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CULTURE MUSIC

MO artists, mo’ albums

Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear

Album: The Radio Winners Released: July 27 Hometown: Independence Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear is an apt name for the mother-son duo. Madisen and Ruth Ward emit a folksy intimacy through acoustic guitars, vocal harmonies and heavily enunciated lyrics. The Wards have also found a way to keep the familiar style of their debut album, Skeleton Crew, intact while experimenting with new textures and structures.

Missouri artists put their cities on the map with 2018 album releases.

BY GRANT SHARPLES

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rom the emotive sounds of Young Animals to the heartfelt folk-pop of Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear, Missouri artists statewide released projects that gained local and national exposure in 2018.

Narrowed down by quality of lyrics, instrumentation and artistic growth, Vox gathered the top five albums from Missouri artists.

Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats

It’s Me: Ross

Album: Tearing at the Seams Released: March 9 Hometown: Hermann Nathaniel Rateliff is famous for his rugged, soulful voice and bluesy instrumentation. On his sophomore record, Tearing at the Seams, Rateliff opts for despair. This isn’t to say that the blues-rock he’s known for is absent, but his music is more subdued this time around, particularly in the latter half of the record. Tearing at the Seams shows how the singer and songwriter has matured stylistically since joining with the Night Sweats.

Album: C’est La Vie Released: Sept. 20 Hometown: Columbia Psychedelic indie-rockers It’s Me: Ross maintain surrealism in their third full-length album, C’est La Vie. The band members ­— Ross, Spencer, Marielle and Quintin — maintain the unvarnished energy of their previous releases, but the new record shines with revitalized polish. “Tired Eyes” kicks off the album at a brisk pace, and “Thru the Doors” follows with a haunting uneasiness that sets the tone for the lead single “Now and Then.” C’est La Vie flows seamlessly and plays as a cohesive unit instead of isolated parts.

Cave

Album: Allways Released: Oct. 19 Hometown: Columbia The mostly instrumental Chicago band has close ties to Columbia. Prior to gathering in Chicago, four of its five members would play music together in Columbia, and two of its members had a solidified local group called Warhammer 48K. Despite how much time has passed since, Cave maintains its instrumental, psych-jam focus. Its latest album, Allways, is an exemplar of improvisation and a gradually changing structure. The six songs span 40 minutes, giving each track room to breathe and develop over time.

Young Animals

Album: Disposition Released: April 20 Hometown: St. Louis Indie-rock group Young Animals released its first full-length LP, Disposition, earlier this year. The album’s loud and simple instrumentation explores unusual time signatures and melodies reminiscent of bands such as TTNG and Mothers. The album’s math-rock tendencies, characterized by its complex rhythmic structure, keep the listener interested with its unexpected shifts in rhythm and progression.

Its strength as a record lie in its constant surprises.

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Illustrations by Sadie Collins

C U LT U RE BOOKS

is the only one who seems to care. During Claudia’s investigation, she becomes anxious about the bullies she has to face alone. “It’s valuable for teens to know they’re not alone and that there are others out there grappling with similar issues,” Moss says.

Reading my mind YA novel characters wrestling with mental health help teens understand and work through struggles. BY JESSICA DUFFIELD

B

Monday’s Not Coming Daryl Moss, a Rock Bridge High School language arts specialist, suggests this book by Tiffany D. Jackson. When Monday Charles mysteriously goes missing, her best friend Claudia

Rose Music Hall

DrinKraft Le Bao

FIRE STATION

Missouri Contemporary Ballet

EVERY SUNDAY

The North Village Arts District is an art, music, food, drinks and fun lovers paradise packed into beautifully renovated warehouses, shops and historical buildings in downtown Columbia, Missouri.

PARKING

Shannon Webster Studio Resident Arts Shear Soul Hair Studio

N. 10th St.

COURTYARD

Wildy’s World Artlandish Gallery

PARKING

MEDICI

Broadway

Sager-Braudis Gallery

E. Walnut St. SHORT ST. GARAGE PARKING

Carla Ciolli Hair

BROOKSIDE

WHAT YOU UNEXPECT

ALLEYWAY

PACE YOUTH THEATRE

IRON TIGER TATTOO

Orr Street Studios HUBBELL DR.

Fretboard Coffee

Dancearts

NASH VEGAS

E. Ash St.

Orr St. Farmers & Artisan Market

Range-Free

Ophelia’s Flowers

AARDVARX

Talking Horse Productions Dogmaster Distillery Yoga Sol North Village Recording Studio

Coming Home WABASH STATION

BEST OF THE WEST GOOD NATURE

Orr St.

N. 10th St.

Cafe Berlin

E. ASH ST.

9th St. Public House

AMEREN LOT

Park Avenue

The Serpent King Amanda Schirmer, literacy seminar teacher at Rock Bridge, suggests Jeff Zentner’s novel, which is set in a rural high school. The story centers on Dill, who is struggling to fit in. He finds strength from his best friends, Travis and Lydia, who help him cope.

Schrimer recommends this book and others that deal with mental health because they’re often relatable for her students.

St. James St.

Turtles All the Way Down Michaela Marshall Dungey, an employee at Skylark Bookshop, recommends John Green’s latest novel for its authentic representation of a character dealing with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Aza and her best friend Daisy explore the disappearance of billionaire Russell Pickett with hopes of earning a $100,000 reward. Aza struggles with her OCD during the search, which distracts her from helping Daisy. Dungey says this book will help those suffering from mental health issues feel less isolated.

eing a teen is hard; add in mental heath and social issues, and it can feel torturous. Young adult novels can be an escape for teens, a place where they see themselves represented and a realistic portrayal of how to overcome the ugly aspects of school such as bullying and mental health struggles. Here, local experts recommend YA novels that show how different characters tackle the challenges of youth.

All the Bright Places Kelsey Hammond, co-owner of Yellow Dog Bookshop, endorses Jennifer Nivens’ novel about Theodore Finch — a boy who is captivated by the idea of taking his own life. He meets Violet Markey, who’s trying to find ways to escape her tiny Indiana town after her sister died. Hammond says this is a moving book about loss and love as two teens use their friendship to fight their depression.

Dogwood Artist Workspace THE FIELDHOUSE

Photography courtesy of Amazon

THE BROADWAY

PARKING ENFORCEMENT HOURS Parking Garages 8a-6p M-F Parking Lots 8a-6p M-S Street Meters 9a-7p M-S

BROADWAY

www.northvillageartsdistrict.org VOX MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2018

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PHOTOS OF THE YEAR Some stories, and some moments, are best captured through the lens of a camera. Over the past 12 months, Vox photographers have snapped images that are inspiring, insightful and even eye-opening.

But, above all, they are memorable.

Relive 2018 with us, and hear from those who put our city and its people in focus.

SUPER STRENGTH India Garrish

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aylee Anderson’s power, both in physical strength and self-confidence, caught the attention of India Garrish.

She says she didn’t want to emphasize Kaylee’s condition — she has alopecia, an autoimmune disorder that can result in hair loss — but rather her achievements as an award-winning firstyear weightlifter in the USA Weightlifting Youth National Championships. One of the most important tools as a photojournalist is compassion, Garrish says, and she tried to think about what Kaylee might be feeling in a single second and shoot with those feelings in mind.

Interviews and captions by Jenna Allen

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JET-SETTER India Garrish

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light engineer Sean McGowan secured a propeller on a U.S. Navy P-3 Orion, a maritime patrol aircraft, in preparation for the Salute to Veterans air show at Columbia Regional Airport in May. Photographer India Garrish sought to capture the juxtaposition of his size compared to the plane.

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A MOTHER’S MOMENT Zhihan Huang

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hotographer Zhihan Huang captured an image of Rokeshia Ashley teaching her 1-yearold daughter, Emery, different parts of the body for a July Missourian story detailing the mortality rate of black babies. In Boone County, black babies die at a rate three times higher than white babies before their first birthday.

NETTING A WIN Jennifer Mosbrucker

A

fter the final game of the Columbia College basketball season, Jennifer Mosbrucker stuck around for the postgame celebration. As soon as the shutter on her camera closed on legendary coach Bob Burchard cutting the net to commemorate the Cougars’ conference championship, she knew it was her best shot of the day.

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SIGHTS SET Jenna Kieser

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enna Kieser was covering archery at the Show-Me State Games in Moberly when she saw Dennis Dudley warming up. She had been looking for various ways to photograph the athletes when she pointed her camera at Dudley to capture his intensity. She says she has seen numerous people shoot arrows, but she’d never seen a facial expression like his.

PARTY ANIMAL Hailey Hofer

H

ailey Hofer says that her photograph of Josh Oxenhandler at the Jubilee Masquerade Gala, the event that kicks off True/False Film Fest, is among her favorite shots. To take the photo of Oxenhandler, Hofer gelled her speedlight flash with red cellophane and secured it with scotch tape. She says using filters helps capture a scene’s atmosphere or create portraits with more drama. The setup might have been unconventional, but when she saw his mask, she knew it would yield a one-of-a-kind image.

IT’S ELECTRIC Hailey Hofer

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fter volunteering to shoot Home Bass, the Mizzou Electronic Music Organization’s free monthly event, Hailey Hofer and fellow photographer Jennifer Mosbrucker bounced from stage to dance floor and everywhere in between.

Hofer says that finding moments to shoot wasn’t difficult because the concertgoers were having a blast — and so was she.

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NEW PERSPECTIVE Abbie Young

A

bbie Young photographed Patricia Moak and her son, Jacob Moak, from a “worm’s-eye” view at Devil’s Icebox in Rock Bridge Memorial State Park. It was Young’s first visit, and she sought to depict the beauty of the location while documenting the experience because it was their first time there, too.

PAINFUL PROCESS Julia Hansen

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he day after Cody Rachatellelle’s ACL surgery, Julia Hansen photographed the Battle High School football player stretching with his mom’s help at their house. Hansen says she was trying to show the difficulty of his recovery, and she sensed his frustration. She felt it was poignant because of its relatability for people who experience injuries like Cody’s.

OVER THE RIVER Abbie Young

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t was one of the first substantial rains of the year, Abbie Young says, when she discovered members of a family trying to navigate a creek in east Columbia that had flooded their driveway. To show the rush of the stream and ensure she included all three people in the scene, Young used a wide lens.

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EMOTIONAL EXIT Abbie Young

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n one of her first photo assignments this year, Abbie Young ventured to Cedar Ridge Elementary School to see if she could photograph teachers packing up their classrooms as the last day of school came to a close. She followed school principal Angie Chandler as she completed classroom checks, and they came across second-grade teacher Jennifer Gross crying. Gross would not be returning to school in the fall because of her impending move to St. Louis.

PERSONAL PROM India Garrish

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ndia Garrish photographed Skylar Russell, Sarah Camp, Nikki Winningham and Brittany Stone at MU Women’s and Children’s Hospital as they prepared for a makeshift prom.

Hospital staff set up the event specially for Skylar, who missed her high school prom because of surgery related to Crohn’s disease. When she took the photo, Garrish wanted to show the joy of the event and the resounding freedom visible on Skylar’s face after discovering she could dance without nutrition tubes for the first time since her hospitalization.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES Shauna Yates

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resident Donald Trump’s rally at Columbia Regional Airport on Nov. 1 drew more than 6,000 people. Shauna Yates had never been to a presidential rally, so she didn’t know what to expect. To take the photo, she used a 300mm lens because she was at a distance, and she tried to think compositionally. With the activity behind Trump, Yates wanted to avoid clutter by separating him from the background.

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Jim Nunnelly protested a segregated diner in Columbia’s majority-black neighborhood.

What happened on that night nearly 60 years ago would shape a lifetime of volunteerism.

BY LAUREN PUCKETT

At the time of the protest, the Minute Inn was at the corner of what’s now Providence Road and Walnut Street.

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Photography courtesy of Carolyn Bentlage

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hey made their move around dusk, mouths shut. They made no plans to speak. They made no plans to explain. Nine individuals, most no older than 18, walked in unison through the swinging door of Columbia’s Minute Inn in April 1960. Silence washed over the tiny diner as they entered. The servers watched as the group slid onto the 10 stools at the lunch counter.

Four of the demonstrators were white, five of them black. The glass service window outside the Inn was meant for black customers; they were directed to stand and order their hamburgers and hash browns out in the elements, cordoned off from the diner’s white patrons. This night, six years after the Brown v. Board of Education decision, James “Jim” Nunnelly and his friends would follow the example of Baltimore, of Durham, of Oklahoma City, of Greensboro. This night would become the almost-forgotten “sit-in at the Minute Inn.” The group, organized by the Columbia Committee on Racial Equality (CORE), entered the diner at 7:35 p.m. For reasons no one can remember, they temporarily disbanded, then returned to the diner at 11:55 p.m.

Inside, Jim occupied the stool closest to the door. He was 17 years old, a few weeks away from graduating high school and “160 pounds soaking wet” — or so he puts it now — with a long face and ears that poked out. He was the quarterback on the football team at Douglass High School, the all-black high school in Columbia. His girlfriend and eventual wife

of 53 years, Janice, thought he looked cute in the soda jerk hat he wore working for her father at The Freeze King, a soda fountain and ice cream parlor. Most people in their small, impoverished, majority-black neighborhood knew him as a good kid.

That night at the Minute Inn, he was in unfamiliar territory. He was cautious. The silence lingered. Fifteen minutes passed, and Jim ordered nothing. He was getting tired, or maybe antsy, maybe worried, and he was going to leave. The group planned to disperse in the next five minutes, having made their mark in the sit-in movement, having said what they wanted to say without saying anything.

This is our neighborhood. We have every right to be here.

H

ubert Odell Blakemore interrupted their plans to leave quietly. He owned the Minute Inn and had since 1950, when he hired a plane to scatter fliers about his new business all over Columbia, after which the city banned advertising dropped from the sky. He’d transported the diner to town on a rail car from Wichita, Kansas, and he named it the Minute Inn when his wife, Hazel, tried to stop him hurrying out the door: “Now, just a minute,” she’d tell him.

Blakemore was a farmer, an entrepreneur and a member of Olivet Christian Church.

And somewhere between the late hours of April 18 and the early morning of April 19, he was alerted that a group of protesters were staging a lunch-counter sit-in at his business.

The door swung open, and Blakemore

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filled its frame. Jim remembers him wearing bib overalls, with as much reddish-brown hair on his arms as on his head.

He looked disheveled, Jim recalls, like he’d been roused from a deep sleep. The man was built like an offensive lineman. Blakemore was big; he could swing.

Jim hadn’t watched the owner come in, so when he turned around to follow everyone’s gaze, he was surprised. Blakemore occupied the only way out. The owner blinked in disbelief at the black faces in his restaurant. They were supposed to be outside.

Before Jim could speak, Blakemore had catapulted him through the diner’s swinging door, where he nicked the edge of the concrete stairs and landed heavily in the gravel. In addition to Jim, Blakemore threw out Robert Hanson, a white MU student who had joined the CORE protest, as he told them, “I own this place, and I want you out.” The rest of the group immediately scattered, fearing the imminent arrival of the police. Jim leapt back to his feet without checking for injuries and went across the street, adrenaline overwhelming his common sense.

N

ews travels fast in a small town, especially in a neighborhood like Jim’s, where the discrimination of the Minute Inn stuck out with such stubborn indignation. Restaurant desegregation had begun in Columbia, but not every business owner agreed. He believes a group walking by the restaurant watched him and his friends enter the premises, and they started spreading the story as soon as it had happened. Within 20 minutes, it seemed as if everyone knew. By the time Jim bolted across the street to vacate Blakemore’s property, a small crowd — he estimates 20 people — had gathered. George Brooks, Jim’s high school teacher and football coach, was there; he would later become MU’s first black administrator, and a residence hall on campus now bears his name.

Sarah Bell Jackson was there; she was the adult sponsor of the youth NAACP. Janice was at home; she heard everything after the fact.

They asked Jim what had happened.

Brooks — who would traverse the neighborhood around Douglass on school nights to ensure his athletes were home safe before 9 p.m. — was gentle with the kid: “Ya

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In 1960, Ernie’s in downtown Columbia drew multiple protests for their policies of racial discrimination.

sure you’re alright?” Jim was. There were no visible wounds, and when he woke the next morning, he felt fine.

THE SIT-IN HAD BEEN PEACEFUL UNTIL BLAKEMORE ARRIVED. Although local police arrived on the scene, they made no arrests. Jim doesn’t remember ever getting interviewed by police or local reporters, though the Columbia Missourian ran a story on April 19 detailing that the acting city counselor would not bring criminal charges against Blakemore.

His reasoning was that the assault had been “provoked.” John D. Schopp, an assistant

professor of astronomy at MU who was a member of CORE, found the argument ridiculous. The sit-in had been peaceful until Blakemore arrived.

J

im told his tale a few more times over the years, for an oral history at the State Historical Society of Missouri, for a journalist or two, and eventually in a Facebook post in November 2017 that sparked an outpouring of online appreciation and support from Columbia community members. But for the most part, he kept the burden to himself. He rarely, if ever, discussed it at length with his family.

It became a stain on his memory, something he perhaps thought better to forget.

That night in 1960, Jim’s mother met him on his walk back home. After hearing the news, she had traveled two or three blocks from their house near Jefferson Junior High School to come and pick him

In spring of 1959, a group of MU students protested the segregation practices of the Tiger Inn restaurant. This would lead to the creation of a local Committee on Racial Equality (CORE).

What was CORE? Stemming from the national organization, Columbia’s chapter of CORE included students and city residents with the shared interest of eliminating segregation in Columbia and its businesses. MU denied recognition to the group.

What did they do?

CORE members participated in restaurant testing, where small groups would visit restaurants known for their segregation policies and attempt to be served. Visits included a report with details such as time of entry, members present and customer reactions. up. When they ran into each other, Jim knew that she would be worried. When she spoke, there was anguish in her voice.

“You have to be careful with this whole race situation,” she told him. There was pride in her tone — pride for her son who chose to sit down. But there was also a deep, unfathomable fear. Geraldine and Raymond Nunnelly were the parents of five children, and though Raymond was illiterate, both he and his wife were supportive of their bright young son’s education. They did not want to see his smarts snuffed out by a racist system.

Back at the house, Jim called Janice and told her what had happened. She listened with concern but not shock. She knew from the beginning what kind of man she was with, and she knew the kind of world they lived in. There was never any notion of controlling Jim. Even then, when she was still his girlfriend and not

yet his wife, Janice could predict how the Minute Inn would haunt him over the years. When he couldn’t recognize it in himself, she could already see the cracks in his composure, how they would propel him, almost immediately, to analyze every complexity of race in America; to understand the troubles facing black Americans in his community; and to embed himself in the mentorship of young people — especially young people who looked like him.

The Minute Inn would change Jim, and he would no longer keep his mouth shut.

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nly weeks after the events at the Minute Inn, Jim graduated from Douglass High School as part of the final segregated class before administrators temporarily closed the school. He had a deep loyalty to Douglass. When Hickman High School started integrating its black and white students in 1958, Jim chose to stay

Photography courtesy of State Historical Society of Missouri

at Douglass, desperate for administrators to pour resources into the black school.

This was six years after “separate but equal” educational facilities were deemed unconstitutional. Change was supposed to be happening faster than it was. But Columbia was slow to adapt and slow to understand its own racial trauma.

A little over 20 years before Jim’s protest, Lloyd Gaines, a black man, disappeared after fighting the U.S. Supreme Court for the ability to attend MU. He was never found. A few years later, in 1941, Lucile Bluford won a Missouri Supreme Court case for her right as a black woman to participate in MU’s graduate journalism program. Before she had a chance to take one class, the school shut down the program, claiming too many students and professors were overseas during World War II. In 1954, Columbia began the destruction of the Sharp End, the majority-black business community in the city. The federal Urban Renewal Program allowed white business owners to buy areas deemed as “slums” and demolish them for redevelopment, altering the entire face of the black neighborhood.

This was the atmosphere Jim grew up in. He knew it and understood it well. His own home — a four-room cottage with no running water — was a potential target for the Urban Renewal Program. But the story that stuck with him as he entered the door of the Minute Inn, and as he walked up to receive his diploma weeks later, was that of Emmett Till.

A 14-year-old black boy, Emmett “Bobo” Till was visiting family in Mississippi in 1955 when he was accused of whistling at a white woman. He was kidnapped and lynched by the woman’s husband and his half-brother. They tied him with barbed wire to a metal fan at the bank of the Tallahatchie River. When he was later found and identified by the signet ring on his finger, his face was damaged beyond recognition. Yet Till’s mother chose an open-casket funeral, leaving her son’s body visible for five days. More than 100,000 people saw him at the Roberts Temple Church of God in Chicago.

It was an image Jim couldn’t shake. He always felt something was going to happen to him — not because he was reckless, or particularly prone to cause trouble, but because he was young, and he was black.

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Jim and Janice Nunnelly were high school sweethearts at Douglass High School. Jim was a member of the last graduating class before Douglass closed during the desegregation of the school district.

The violence that killed Emmett Till could still happen. And when Hubert Blakemore threw him from the door of the Minute Inn, Jim experienced a small piece of that violence, and it has not left him since.

W

hen Jim was forced to bridge the distance between “the town and gown,” as he puts it — the divide between the city of Columbia and MU — his fear almost stunted him. If he’d had his choice, he says, he might have attended a historically black college or university. But after the events at the Minute Inn, he had been elected the head of the local youth NAACP, which urged him to attend MU so that more black students like him would follow in his footsteps. He knew that the decision was bigger than just him.

In his own city, Jim became a “domestic immigrant” — a term he uses when referring to black people who come from around the same communities as white people but are treated as foreigners. His family had lived in Columbia for over 120

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years, but at MU he felt out of place, and that made him cautious.

He had good reason. He was one of a handful of black students surrounded by thousands of white students. He says he scored so highly on his college entrance exam, the Ohio State Psychological Exam, that the administrators told him to take it again, to ensure this kid from Douglass was as smart as he seemed on paper. Every morning during college, he walked to campus from his home with two fellow black students, John Kelly and Charles Allen.

The three of them developed a support system, of sorts.

The university transformed Jim. It expanded his worldview, his “territory,” as he puts it. He received an “awful good” education at MU, he says. He almost skipped graduation, but Janice pressed him to go, insisting he was making history.

He explains that, most days, he wears at least one article of clothing emblazoned with MU’s logo. He graduated from college almost 50 years ago, and he says he

has close to 75 MU shirts, sweatshirts and jackets. His experiences at the university led him to run a campaign for mayor of Columbia; to take an eventual health care job in Kansas City; to help establish the Jackson County Drug Court and Jackson County Fathering Court for addressing substance abuse treatment and parental financial responsibility in Kansas City.

His time at MU inspired him to work with students at a Kansas City radio program called Generation Rap, where he transformed the format of the program so that kids were in charge, creating and hosting each show. That night at the Minute Inn and the ensuing days at MU helped create the man known to hundreds of young people as “Granddad.” Some don’t even know his real name is Jim. He describes his position on the frontier of college integration as if it were a battle: desegregation, the no man’s land, and Jim, the “undecorated, wounded war hero.” No one ever told him the psychological consequences he’d experience as

Photography by Jason Vance

one of the university’s sociocultural guinea pigs. Today, certain experiences can still trigger uncomfortable memories from his time at MU. And yet he refuses to say anything ill about the school. He isn’t bitter.

He’s educated. He’s a self-proclaimed historian, “who doesn’t want history to repeat itself,” equipping hundreds of minority students with the tools they need to get to — and through — college, in a system often set against them.

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t home in Kansas City on an afternoon in April, Jim’s door is open. The hinges creak as his family and friends slip in and out of his house near Swope Park with little notice. On the couch today sits Christian, the Nunnellys’ 28-yearold grandson, and next to him is Andrew McDowell, a 30-year-old former Generation Rap student. They discuss Andrew’s new business, a smoke shop in Raytown, Missouri, named the Funky Skunk, while Jim steps outside. He’ll be back soon, he promises; he’s heading out to introduce

Congressman Emanuel Cleaver before a keynote speech downtown. Cleaver, once Kansas City’s first black mayor, has been friends with Jim for years. He says nothing of consequence happens in the Kansas City black community without Jim’s involvement — or without the involvement of someone who has been influenced by Jim. The Nunnellys have owned their home for almost 50 years, ever since they arrived in Kansas City in 1969. Jim moved to the city to support a new community health center, now known as Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center. The struggling clinic, focused on providing care for minorities, enlisted Jim to handle government affairs and publicity as the chief administrator. During his time there, the clientele increased, he estimates, from fewer than 30 patients a month to hundreds of patients a day.

Bent on furthering his education, he earned a master’s degree in public health economics at the University of Michigan in 1973, commuting every six weeks to see his family. After graduating, he returned full

time to his job in Kansas City and aided the creation of a family residency practice.

To this day, Jim’s a staunch health care advocate, often leading radio and social media campaigns to educate minorities about diabetes risks. He says he feels his work in health care is overlooked due to his volunteering activities. He jokes that most of the Generation Rap kids had no idea he had a day job.

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nside the house, Janice flits through the art-stuffed living room to show off her figurines and collectibles. Every trinket has a meaning, from the pipe-smoking statues she bought in Jamaica to the brass sculpture of a ship above the fireplace. She refers to it as “the ship that brought us over from Africa.” A china cabinet in the dining room is filled with figurines of black men and women, most from Thomas Blackshear’s Ebony Visions collection.

“This is called The Guardian,” she explains, pointing out the figure of an angel-like man, eyes closed, arms open, his

Above: Jim (upper left) was a member of Douglass High School’s Athenean Society, a group that promoted free speech. Top right: The Columbia Missourian reported the sit-in at the Minute Inn on April 19, 1960.

Bottom right: Janice created a collage highlighting the many stories written about Jim’s work.

Photography by Jason Vance and courtesy of State Historial Society of Missouri

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enormous white wings closing around two small black children. “That represents Jim guarding our grandchildren.” And another, this one a young woman in a black dress, clutching a rose behind her back. “This is called Evening Rose,” she says. “That’s me when I was young and cute.” She flashes a devilish smile.

In one bedroom, Janice has decorated a wall with portraits of the Obama family.

On the opposite wall are portraits of her own family. The living room is stuffed with souvenirs from her travels around the world, from France, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt and China. Working as a registered nurse for hospitals and nursing homes while her children grew up, Janice wasn’t sure she’d ever have the chance to leave the country.

So when she brought home a pamphlet advertising a nursing exchange trip to China, she left it to gather dust atop their bedroom dresser. Jim picked the paper up and paid the initial $300 fee without telling his wife. A few months later, she walked The Great Wall of China.

That’s the relationship they’ve always had. Jim has his adventures; Janice has hers. They come together to raise their two children, their five grandchildren, their four great-grandchildren and the hundreds of other non-biological “grandkids” they’ve mentored over the years, many of them from Generation Rap. The house — and the items it holds — are a testament to the life they’ve built.

W

ithout Jim around to listen, Christian is candid. He says he has to speak with Granddad at least once a week, like church, “just to kinda stay alive and not feel like I’m drowning.”

He lived with his Nunnelly grandparents for seven years as a kid, from first grade through seventh grade, while his mother worked nights. Even in those days, he felt the immense pressure of following in his grandfather’s footsteps. Christian didn’t want to go to college initially — he went because Granddad wished it for him. Now, he works as a travel agent in Atlanta. But when asked what Jim expects of him as a young man, Christian answers, “to become president.” It’s clear from the slight smile on his face that he’s only half-joking.

Neither he nor McDowell know much of anything about Jim’s experience at the

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Minute Inn. They know he shook hands with Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma, Mississippi, but they chuckle as they share that tidbit. Typical. Granddad would have met King. As for his trauma in Columbia, Jim has chosen to keep that mostly to himself.

When he returns from his introduction of Congressman Cleaver, Jim sweeps into the living room with purpose. His face shape has changed over the years; it’s a little thicker, accented by a wispy black mustache. But for a man with so many experiences, he doesn’t look weathered.

He still has enormous, bright eyes behind his giant silver-rimmed glasses, and today, he’s excited to welcome a former mentee.

Taylor Brown, he says, is probably the Generation Rap student who’s relied on him and his mentorship the most over the years. She’s now a 27-year-old working as an education outreach specialist at ArtsTech, a nonprofit youth organization in Kansas City.

She was a troublemaking kid, or so he puts it. “Incorrigible” is how he describes her. She had a mouth on her, a sassiness — but a sincere sass, not the immature acting-out of most teenagers. Jim was fascinated by it. She grew up in poverty; her father was in and out of prison due to a crack addiction. But Brown had a light in her. Jim would pick her up every Saturday morning and let her eat all the candy he kept in his car while the two of them drove to the studio to record Generation Rap programs. He would teach her big words such as “pyrotechnic” while she yawned in the passenger seat, complaining that it was 7:30 in the morning. Granddad, stop. In his 30 years of working with Generation Rap, Jim only missed four sessions. He was there with Brown almost every week.

When it came time for her to run her own program, she wanted to use her hour of radio to address whether criminals are put in prison or in treatment. Thrilled with her spunk, Jim set up a meeting with the Jackson County prosecuting attorney.

During the afternoon meeting, Brown sat across from the prosecutor, locked eyes with him, leaned in close and demanded, “You tell me why it is that my father keeps going to jail and not going into treatment.”

It was then that Jim knew he could transform that courage and bravery into some-

thing worthwhile.

When Brown steps through the front door, the frame rattling behind her, it’s immediately clear that she’s home. She jumps to embrace Janice, who she calls “Nana,” and when Jim protests in mock jealousy, she wags her tongue at him. “You’re just a pure hater,” she says.

Jim ignores them. “She’s really one of the prides of the city at this point,” he says of Brown, and he watches adoringly from across the room.

A few minutes later, Brown launches into a description of her upcoming trip to Senegal. As a part of her work with ArtsTech this summer, she organized a trip to Africa, where her group of volunteers donated refurbished computers to Senegalese students to aid them in tutoring and ACT prep. And within the next year, Brown plans to return to college and complete her bachelor’s degree.

Photography by Jason Vance

HE NEVER WENT BACK TO THE MINUTE INN AFTER HUBERT BLAKEMORE THREW HIM THROUGH ITS FRONT DOOR. Jim explains, away from Brown, that her personal development has been a longterm investment. He wasn’t always sure he could help her get where she wanted to go.

He says she was expelled from multiple schools growing up. She didn’t understand

why everyone wasn’t excited to be black, why Jim himself wasn’t always excited to be black. She forced him to rethink his own “cultural inclinations,” to reassess his identity and his history. And here she is now, healthy and successful, her grin lighting up his living room. In many ways, she’s the tangible representation of his life’s work.

F

or his part, Jim is excited to have been involved in the work that he’s done, helping youth through times of transition. But even after multiple retirement parties, he’s constantly working. He travels back and forth to Columbia for the occasional university event. He wears his MU shirts almost every day.

He never went back to the Minute Inn after Hubert Blakemore threw him through its front door. The restaurant was purchased by Rex Freemyer in the 1960s, and from there, it underwent shifts

in culture, location, title and ownership until a new building was erected and the Minute Inn eventually became today’s beloved Broadway Diner.

It never occurred to Jim to pursue Blakemore or charges against him. He let it all go. When the restaurant was moved to a new building and the former destroyed, a friend invited Jim to go see. It would be cathartic. A closure, a worthy ending.

Jim declined. He wasn’t remorseful.

He’d just had enough.

He says there has been nothing in the years since like what he experienced in Columbia. He never talks about his old home with anger. He owes a lot to Columbia.

And, in turn, he has helped hundreds of minority students grow and choose their path toward education, whether it leads them to MU or somewhere else. He sees that this is what he was meant to do.

And he is grateful.

Generation Rap On any given Saturday, Nas or Childish Gambino bump through the speakers as 15-20 kids pile into the studio at Carter Broadcast Group in Kansas City. As the show opens, their eyes widen and they scramble into position. They introduce themselves with an audacious “What’s up, Kansas City?” India Williams, a mentor of the 103.3 KPRS-FM’s Generation Rap show, shouts from the production booth, “Be ready; stay ready!”

Generation Rap is a radio program that began in 1987, but more importantly, it’s a mentoring program where Kansas City high schoolers plan and produce the show themselves. They invite guest speakers, tackling topics including social justice, education, sports, music and black history.

The show gives the kids a voice and an opportunity to be valued for their opinions, Williams explains. And it puts them into the sphere of Jim Nunnelly, who still makes time to volunteer on the odd Saturday morning. Taylor Brown (far left) is a former Generation Rap student, and they’ve stayed in touch ever since. As soon as Jim arrives, the students want him to know about their accomplishments, their high school graduations, where they’re heading for college. He tells them, “You are my future, and I am your past.”

VOX MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2018

35

Must pets

They’re fun, furry, bubbly and everything we don’t deserve. With animal gear shops, dog friendly haunts and boarding spots all over town, Columbia loves its pets. Dig into our guide for everything you need to know about dogs, cats, fish and more in CoMo.

Meet Lainey: an 11-month-old German Shepherd-border collie mix. She will play soccer with anything, even rocks.

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Photography by Yehyun Kim

Happiness unleashed

Research proves that dog ownership boosts mental and physical health.

BY KAELYN ADIX

Barbara Hirsch considers her dogs, including Charlie and Remmy (left) and Joey (above), part of the family. “I spoil them just as much as my girls get spoiled,” she says.

J

oey’s piercing blue eyes peek up from behind his mom’s legs. He takes in his surroundings while not straying. When Barbara Hirsch brought Joey to her Hallsville home, he fit right in with her fiancé, two kids and three other dogs.

Hirsch put him in a blue box as a present her fiancé didn’t see coming.

He walked in, put his stuff down and just stared at Joey, who stared right back, Hirsch says. “And yeah, now we have four dogs.”

Joey, named for his cuddly nature and resemblance to a baby kangaroo, was adopted from Second Chance. The family’s other dogs, Hank, Remmy and Charlie, came from the Humane Society.

Hirsch says they do as much for her as she does for them, and research supports her sentiment. In 1995, she was told she has sensory integration, which is now known as sensory processing disorder. “My brain kind of works differently, and all my senses are heightened,” she says. “I have to make sure I’m not stressed, or else I’ll get anxiety attacks.”

Petting one of her dogs helps Hirsch control her senses and feel less anxious.

Her two older dogs, Charlie and Remmy, Photography courtesy of Barbara Hirsch

are emotional-support animals, and she says Hank and Joey will be as well when they are old enough. “In our house, we like to stay stress free, and what better way to do that than have four dogs?”

In addition to dogs’ calming nature, they also influence physical health.

Kids are less likely to have asthma and allergies when raised in a home with dogs, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Psychologists June McNicholas and Glyn Collis have also found that kids are more comfortable reading and have better self-esteem and impulse control.

Dog owners are also typically more physically active than those without dogs because of responsibilities such as playtime and walks.

MU researcher Rebecca Johnson did a study in 2016 on the effect of the human-animal bond on older adults’ physical health. She found dog owners had lower body mass indexes and fewer daily living limitations, which might translate to reduced health care expenditures.

Michelle Casey, associate director at the Central Missouri Humane Society,

WE LIKE TO STAY STRESS FREE, AND WHAT BETTER WAY TO DO THAT THAN HAVE FOUR DOGS. – BARBARA HIRSCH

says that taking some of the dogs to local nursing homes is advantageous for the residents and the dogs. “The visiting programs create a new opportunity for socialization,” she says. Socialization leads to lowered blood pressure and cholesterol. Provision Living, a local retirement facility, adopted one from the Humane Society that now lives as a floor dog.

Physical activities increase serotonin levels, creating a bridge between physical and mental health. In 2004, Johnson figured out that levels of serotonin, the human hormone that fights depression, rises dramatically after interaction with animals — specifically dogs. Her research found significant increases of prolactin and oxytocin as well, which she described as “feel-good hormones” that cannot be otherwise created.

MU student Shelby Sonnefeldt adopted her 2-year-old dog from Second Chance. She says her dog, Maisie, always makes her day because of her ability to read her emotions. “If I come home in a really bad mood, she’ll make me play with her or take her outside,” Sonnefeldt says. “It’s like she won’t let me be stagnant.”

VOX MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2018

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All the gear you need to be that owner Your phone background proudly displays a photo of your fur baby. Cat-mom stickers deck out your car’s bumper. To be the best pet parent ever, choose items from this gear guide, organized on scales of sensible to fun and want to must have.

BY MCKENNA BLAIR

Ruffwear Dog Booties Slip these on to protect your dog’s paw pads from rough terrain such as rocky trails, hot pavement, freezing snow and surface chemicals. $25, Alpine Shop “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” Dog Bandana Begging is a bad habit — might as well try to make it cute, too. $15, Calhoun’s

WANT

FUN

K&H Pet Products EZ Mount Window Bubble Pod Cat House The suction cup perch holds up to 60 pounds and allows your cat a view of the outdoors. $41.53, chewy.com

Ruffwear Roamer Leash The bungee-cord-esque leash hooks onto your waist for hands-free running and biking. $39.95, Alpine Shop

MUST HAVE

Starbarks Frenchie Roast Toy For around the price of two pumpkin spice lattes, this Starbucks-cupshaped squeaky toy is both Instagram-worthy and entertaining for your pup. $13.95, Calhoun’s

Doc & Phoebe’s Cat Feeders Inspire your cat’s inner predator with a mouse-shaped feeder for meal time. “You can just hide it different places for your cat to go around and hunt for their food,” Schlosser says. $22.99, mini for three; $42.99, full set for five, Lizzi & Rocco’s

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MU Pet Jersey A true must-have for any Columbia pet? Tiger pride.

Dress up your dog in black and gold with an MU football jersey. $24.99, The Mizzou Store

Doohickey Pet Tool This clip-anywhere 4-in-1 pet tool includes a tick remover, burr comb, nail file and bottle opener — for owner use, of course. $7.99, Alpine Shop

Raw Goat Milk Jessica Schlosser, co-owner of Treats Unleashed, compares this anti-inflammatory and immune system booster to unicorn tears. Pour the raw, fermented milk in a bowl, or top off your pet’s breakfast. $5.99, pint; $9.99, quart; $17.99, half-gallon, Lizzi & Rocco’s

SENSIBLE

ThunderShirt Anxiety and Calming Aid According to the Journal of Veterinary Behavior, weighted vests protect your dog’s sanity when thunder or fireworks boom. $44.95, chewy.com Kurgo Car Safety Tether In a car accident, a 60-pound dog going 35 mph becomes a 2,700-pound projectile, according to Bark Buckle UP, a pet-travel advocacy group. Protect your pet with a safety tether that clips onto your car’s seat belt. $12.99, Lizzi & Rocco’s

Photography by Julia Hansen

No pet? No problem.

BY KRISTIN BLAKE

Do you want to cuddle with a four-legged friend, but don’t have one of your own?

Columbia has ample options for the pet-less who are looking to make fetch happen.

Prep a pup

Volunteer with Puppies with Purpose, a Columbia organization that readies puppies to become service dogs. Director and veterinarian Dr. TerriAnn Tucker-Warhover says the group prepares and

socializes the puppies for their training as well as raises disability awareness. puppieswithpurpose.com; 252-256-3111

Go for a walk

The Uber of pet-sitting apps, Rover, pairs owners with someone to walk, visit or stay with their animals. Stephens College freshman Caila Holsapple has been using the app for about a year. “Rover is better than word of mouth,” Holsapple says, “because it connects you to more clients where you are.” rover.com

Browse a bit

You can stroll through Petco to get your pet fix, but for a more barnyard experience, try Helmi’s Gardens. There’s no shortage of animals at this greenhouse with its cats, ducks, chickens and even a friendly peacock. “Our main cat, Lynx, is pretty much our ambassador,” owner Helmi Shelly says.

“When people come in with strollers, he hops in.”

7201 S. Nurser y Road, 886-9419, Mon.–Sat., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sun., 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Who let the dogs in?

Columbia businesses get tails wagging as they embrace pet-friendly spaces.

BY SAVANNAH WALSH

S

troll down Ninth Street, and you might see labs lounging at the feet of coffee drinkers at Lakota or huskies on leashes ambling toward Poppy. Some Columbia businesses have opened their doors and patios to canine friends, shifting from humans-only territory to welcoming stops for both owners and their pets.

Patio Pals Several downtown establishments are keeping the kibble life from feeling repetitive. Turn your Lakota Coffee run into a morning walk for your pup, or hit up Uprise Bakery when in need of a late night pastry. Main Squeeze owner Leigh Lockhart says that allowing pets in the area outside of her business has fostered a community feel for customers (as long as they remember to bring a doggie bag) and the downtown area as a whole. Lizzi & Rocco’s has even pitched in by providing a water bowl for furry customers. The vegetarian menu at

Main Squeeze is one of the reasons pets are allowed; Lockhart believes caring for pets can be a stepping stone to a plant-based diet.

Sit, Sniff, Shop

This is Lily; she was found in a barn and adopted in 2017. She loves cuddles, sunbathing and playing with her mouse toys.

Running errands with your pet makes for a fun change of pace for owner and animal.

Poppy owner Liz Tucker says employees’ days are brightened when they get to spend time with pet-owning customers. For Makes Scents owner Christina Kelley, the opportunity to be pet-friendly came in response to more student and rental housing complexes allowing pets.

The increased presence downtown, in addition to animal-toting travelers, made the decision easy, she says.

Photography by Yehyun Kim and illustrations by Sadie Collins

VOX MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2018

39

Pet stays for when you’re away You might be on vacation, but here’s what you need for your pet’s stay-cation.

BY CAMERON R. FLATT

B

oarding an animal can be stressful met says. for everyone involved, human or Dr. Beth Hussey, veterinarian and owner otherwise. Owners have to worry of Horton Animal Hospital-Central, says that about price, location, drop-off and pick-up boarding facilities often incorporate flashy times and whether the facility will even care additions to attract customers. She thinks about their pet. Meanwhile, the pet can feel these are fine, but owners need to look beabandoned, and the change of schedule can yond the gimmicks and assess the basic living provoke their anxiety. You might not want conditions. to leave your beloved friend, but odds are “If you’re on a budget, what matters to you will have to at some point. Avoid any your pet is not whether there’s a TV in there additional stress by being prepared. or an elevated bed,” Hussey says, “but that Pet owners should visit kennels personally they’re clean and comfortable and well-fed before leaving their pets alone, says Jacob and taken out at appropriate intervals.”

Brummet, owner and operator of Creekside With plenty of pet boarders in Columbia Pet Center. During this visit, owners can alone, visiting the business before trusting assess the general appearthem with your pet is easier ance, security, safety, staff said than done. Vox is here supervision and sanitation For other business to help. Here’s a list of 12 of the business. information such as rates different locations to make “Take a tour. If they’re and unit sizes at each pet the boarding experience as not open to it, they’ve got boarding location, visit peaceful as the rest of your something to hide,” Brumvoxmagazine.com. vacation.

Dogs only yyDog Daze Playcare, 815 Blue Ridge Road yyThe Pet Fair, 1706 I-70 Drive SW yySouth Paw Acres, 5550 W. Gillespie Bridge Road Dogs and cats yyAll Dogs N Cats, 805 E. Nifong Blvd. yy Columbia Pet Hospital, 400 Nebraska Ave. yyHorton Animal Hospital–Central, 1700 I-70 Drive SW yyRolling Hills Veterinary Hospital, 3505 Buttonwood Drive Dogs, cats and other pets yyAll Creatures Animal Hospital, 1300 Business Loop 70 W. yyCreekside Pet Center, 5820 E. Hwy. 163 yyHorton Animal Hospital–Northeast, 2608 Paris Road yyMy Zoo Animal Hospital, 1300 E. Industrial Drive yyRock Bridge Animal Hospital, 5095 S. Providence Road

Wilson the Guinea pig, just over a year old, can’t resist lettuce. He also loves giving kisses, especially to Lily (right), his old roommate.

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Photography by Yehyun Kim and illustrations by Sadie Collins

Deciding on the pick of the litter There’s plenty of fish in the sea and dogs in the park, but which should you choose?

BY CAMERON R. FLATT Nothing can compare to the companionship of a pet. However, most of us don’t realize all the factors that go into caring for one. Quiz yourself through five important elements of pet ownership, and learn what works best for your lifestyle.

Where do you live?

1. I’m Harry Potter and live in a broom closet.

2. Something small could live with me.

3. I have plenty of indoor space but not much of a yard.

4. I have all of this space; I need someone to share it with.

5. You ever seen The Great Gatsby?

What’s your schedule look like?

1. Can we hurry this up? I’ve got a thing in 15 minutes.

2. Any free time I can find I spend at home.

3. I’m a healthy human who knows how to balance work, a social life and free time.

4. I have free time, but humans are the worst, so I’m looking for a quiet companion.

5. Last night I spent three hours hunting the only fly in my house.

What is your exercise routine?

How do your finances look?

How much do you know about animals?

1. Even this free magazine was too expensive for me.

2. I’m fine, thanks for asking. Now let’s talk about something else.

3. I don’t really worry about money.

4. I’ve got some cash to burn.

5. I want to bestow my pet with a life of luxury.

1. Reading this is my exercise for today.

2. Most of my exercise is yard work.

3. I do what I need to stay healthy, and that’s about it.

4. Walking is a lifestyle. My lifestyle.

5. I’m a gym rat.

1. I mean, are puppies and babies really that different?

2. I don’t know much, but I’m willing to learn.

3. I think I’ve got this covered.

4. I’ve had many pets before and know what they’re like.

5. I’m practically Steve Irwin.

Who to adopt Mostly 5s: Dog

Dogs are friendly and lovable but need a ton of maintenance. They require lots of space, time and attention.

Before adopting, you should consider dog size because the requirements vary depending on how big the breed is. Smaller dogs are great for apartments, and they often live longer.

Mostly 4s: Cat

Cats don’t need 24/7 attention, but they will still want your company throughout the day, and there is often little rhyme or reason to their preferences.

You need to make sure they have food and a fresh litter box (clean twice a day).

They live around 12 to 18 years on average.

Photography by Yehyun Kim and illustrations by Sadie Collins

Mostly 3s: Guinea pig

These guys — who are neither pigs nor from Guinea — love human interaction and are happiest in pairs. They live in their own space, so you don’t have to worry about living in a mansion or having a giant yard to take care of them, but their enclosures do take up some room (12 square feet).

Mostly 2s: Fish

Fish can be more furniture than pet.

However, you will need to ensure that your bowl, tank or aquarium has enough space for them to swim around. Don’t forget about the daily feedings, a weekly tank cleaning, a monthly water change and maintaining proper water temperature and chemical levels, which can get expensive.

Mostly 1s: Pet rock

You might not be ready for a pet.

You don’t have the money, time, space or emotional resources. A rock is free, quiet, small, immortal and multifunctional. It can also be a paper weight and home defense. Bonus: You can customize its appearance and create a personality.

Nothing can possibly go wrong.

VOX MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2018

41

MU:

Stop Killing Animals to Teach Human Medicine!

At the University of Missouri, doctors-in-training practice procedures on live pigs, and then the animals are killed.

But 94% of surveyed programs in the U.S. and Canada use modern training methods modeled on human anatomy, not animals. Every other program in Missouri has stopped using animals.

MU should too.

Sign a petition to end this practice at:

MissouriDeservesBetter.org

Paid for by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

ASIAN EATS

A TASTE OF

AROUND TOWN

HOME IN

P. 44

HARTSBURG P. 46

If you give Columbia a cookie...

... it’s going to ask for a store.

With dedicated cookie shops new and old all over town, there are plenty of ways to indulge in a soft, chewy bite.

BY CONNOR WORLEY

Fluffybutt Cookies Named after owner Tammy Carter’s cat, Fluffybutt specializes in custom designs on its cream cheese sugar cookies.

2101 W. Broadway, Tues.–Fri., 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., cookies, $16 for a dozen; decorated sugar cookies, $28–36 for a dozen

Hot Box Cookies Prioritizing fresh, gooey cookies such as the classic red velvet, Hot Box bakes 12 flavors, including the top-selling chocolate chip.

1013 E. Broadway, Mon.–Thurs., 10 a.m. to midnight; Fri., 10 a.m. to 2 a.m.; Sat., noon to 2 a.m.; Sunday, noon to midnight, individual cookies, $1.35; icing sandwich, $4.25

Photography courtesy of Pixabay and by Jason Vance

Insomnia Cookies Get warm cookies, brownies and ice cream sandwiches delivered at any hour from this cookie industry staple.

308 S. Ninth St., Suite 113, Mon.–Fri., 9 a.m. to 3 a.m.; Sat.–Sun., 11 a.m. to 3 a.m., individual cookies, $1.60; the six pack, $8.80

Great American Cookies Located inside the Columbia Mall, Great American Cookies bakes dozens of sweets each day, including cookie cakes.

2300 Bernadette Drive, Mon.–Sat., 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., box of eight cookies, $11.99; 16-inch cookie cake, $31.99 VOX MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2018

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E AT + DRINK RESTAURANTS

What’s on the menu?

Answer: an ever-expanding list of Asian restaurants, which are surging here and elsewhere.

BY CAMERON R. FLATT

W

ith increasingly more Asian restaurants appearing in Columbia, owners are focusing on innovative creations to stand out.

Seven new Asian restaurants opened here in the past six months, including on-trend cuisine, a family-owned food truck, and existing restaurant owners launching new eateries. And this upswing isn’t limited to Columbia.

Across the country, the number of Asian restaurants grew by 135 percent between 1999 and 2014, according to Euromonitor International, a market research company. The second-largest growth area was Latin restaurants, with a jump of about 90 percent.

Downtown in particular has experienced a large influx of Asian eateries, with a trio of establishments opening within seven months of one another. J-Petal and Poke on Ninth Street is one of those.

Manager Boen Dang says the Hawaiianand Japanese-infused food joint targets the college crowd. The restaurant specializes in Hawaiian crepes, light bulb drinks — a drink served in a bulb-like cup — and Japanese poke bowls.

Big Mama Chim’s Noodle House and A Little More also joined J-Petal and Poke downtown this year. Chim’s serves different types of noodle, curry and soup concoctions, while A Little More offers poke bowls, sushi burritos and rolled ice cream.

Meanwhile, two well-established Asian cuisine entrepreneurs also opened new locations: Jina Yoo with Le Bao and Kwang “Kory” Yoo with I Am Sushi and Grill. Each has a different motivation for their new endeavors.

Both restaurateurs talked with Vox

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VOX MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2018

THE NUMBER OF ASIAN RESTAURANTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY GREW BY 135 PERCENT BETWEEN 1999 AND 2014.

– EUROMONITOR about their aspirations, how they want to expand their restaurant brands and give the diners of Columbia new tastes to feast upon.

Yoo ready for something new?

Jina grew up in South Korea, and after moving to Columbia, she opened her first restaurant, Jina Yoo’s Asian Bistro, in 2007. When she finally paid off the original location in 2016, she immediately decided to take a stab at a new one. “I worked my ass off, literally,” Jina says. “It was a painful, painful experience, but I’m a project person.”

After visiting restaurants and farmers markets across the country, Jina launched the comfort-food stop Le Bao in August of this year. She built the Asian eatery with the intent of starting a franchise. Open-

Jina Yoo (top) found a passion in building her franchise, which includes two restaurants. Kory Yoo (above) wanted to be a businessman, and he owns three Asian restaurants around Columbia.

ing another Jina Yoo’s would have been easier because she’d already established her brand, but Jina was not going to be at Le Bao all the time. As a solution, she trained manager Justin Heintz to use recipes she’d created. He now runs Le Bao nearly independent of Jina, but she still stops in occasionally.

The name Le Bao refers to the Chinese steamed bread roll, shaped like a

Photography by Jason Vance and Jordan Kander/Archive

E AT + DRI N K ESSAY

dumpling and stuffed with different fillings. She fuses American comfort food with Chinese street food to make her buns, offering fillings such as Philly cheesesteak and fried chicken. The menu also includes indicators for dishes that are vegetarian or vegan.

Even with her personalized menu, Jina still worries about oversaturation of the Asian restaurant market in Columbia, but her confidence in herself overcomes any doubt. “Definitely what I have, no one can touch,” Jina says. “Because once they get hooked on my food and my personality, they just can’t get away from it – unless I piss them off.”

The thrill of the grill In 1998, Kory Yoo also came from South Korea. Originally, he lived in Michigan until his parents opened a beauty shop in St. Louis. From there, a friend told him that Columbia would be a good place to start his first sushi bar. With the goal of developing his business, he opened I Am Sushi and Grill this past August to expand his already distinctive brand in Columbia; he also owns Geisha Sushi Bar and I Am Sushi Burrito.

“I like to start more new things,” Kory says. “I don’t want to be just a one-restaurant owner. I want to be more of a businessman, so I try to bring more food into this town.”

Even Kory can’t always predict what people want, as the new grill is selling more Korean barbecue than sushi. His motivation behind the grill was to bring Korean barbecue to Columbia because his customers were always asking for something new. Some of the items on the menu include Bulgogi beef, La Galbi short ribs, Chashu pork belly and sashimi.

Competitors are popping up left and right, but Kory says it isn’t a problem because his restaurants target all the senses.

He says he creates food that looks as appetizing as it tastes, feeding the eyes and the mouth, which has been his secret to success.

Whether a restaurant for 100 or 10, a quick stop or sit-down, there’s no shortage of options around Columbia when it comes to eateries that feature Far East food. This trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon, and local diners aren’t complaining.

Campus Tradition for over 50 years Kitchen Open Late

410 S 9th Street | Columbia 573-449-6927

www.theheidelberg.com

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E AT + DRINK RESTAURANTS

Hartsburg’s newest main course Equipped with a passion for food, a mid-Missouri family brings fresh flavors and a new experience to the Katy Trail.

BY SHANNON HENDERSON

L

ittle Andrew Haller loved to stir the pot. Standing beside his mother Cindy Nilges, Haller, with his deep brown, curiosity-filled eyes, would peep over the stove as she whipped up culinary experiments from the depths of their kitchen cabinets.

Flash forward to today, and Haller’s attentiveness and Nilges’ passion for food fuel their new restaurant, 35th on Main, in Hartsburg.

The cafe, which opened Sept. 8, is sandwiched between a row of residential homes on Main Street. Visitors are welcomed through a charming patio and onto a wide porch lined with palm plants. The atmosphere inside the restaurant is retro-industrial, complete with iron lighting fixtures, and a row of steel stools line a long wood-slat bar top.

The eclectic, modern eatery was recently transformed from a ’50s-style diner, replete with a life-sized Elvis cutout.

Nilges and her husband, Jim, purchased the building from newly retired Dotty

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Manns, who operated the beloved Dotty’s Cafe with her husband for nearly 20 years. Manns was disheartened to give up her restaurant, but she says she was delighted to pass it on to the Nilges family.

“I was so happy to find Cindy and (Jim) because they love it like I do,” she says.

It’s a family affair at 35th on Main.

Haller is now the chef, still side by side with his mom as they work to create the fresh menu. It mixes the tastes of California, where Nilges is from, with the Midwest, featuring dishes such as the Drunken Camaron, a tangy shrimp tostada topped with roasted corn and chipotle crema. The menu also borrows favorites, such as the Mushroom Medley and Mussels & Clams, from the Nilgeses’ previous food joint, the Hartsburg Grand Restaurant, which operated for three years. Other crowd favorites include a creamy cheesy artichoke dip, a pork al pastor flatbread and bleu cheese fish tacos.

“I’d fight my grandma just for an

Cindy Nilges says 35th on Main tastes like California meets the Midwest. Try the popular Mojo de ajo (above), which is sauteed tiger shrimp with seasoned garlic butter.

35th on Main 35 E. Main St., Hartsburg, Wed.–Sat., 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

invitation for a snack at their house,” says Hartsburg local Bill Molendorp, who rents a bright red train caboose across the street from 35th on Main to guests traveling on the Katy Trail. Molendorp says the change of cuisine has brought lots of curious people through the sleepy KatyTrail stop about 20 miles south of Columbia.

Nilges and Haller take pride in surprising these guests. “A lot of people come in here and underestimate this place,” Haller says. He loves that people are shocked to find this style of food in Hartsburg.

Above all, Nilges hopes guests will enjoy sitting around a table and eating her scratch-made food. “I want everyone that comes in here to feel welcome.”

Photography by Jason Vance

THE REALITY OF VR AND AR P.48

THE WORLD’S GAME P.50

Keep it glossy When Jack Frost is nipping at your nose, use these skin-saving salves to keep the moisture in.

BY MEGAN SCHALTEGGER Declining temperatures, dry air and harsh winds often lead to lackluster complexions. Being proactive with your skincare routine will keep you moisturized and glowing all season long.

Let’s face it The activated aloe water in Clinique Moisture Surge soothes irritated skin while the hyaluronic acid packs a powerful hydration punch. It keeps skin plump and doesn’t strip it of its natural oils, says Kelly Draper, a beauty associate at Ulta Beauty.

Prime your pout Windburn and overheated homes are leading culprits for chapped lips, so they need a lot of extra love during the winter months, says Dr. Debra Jaliman, a dermatologist at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. Exfoliate dead skin cells with Fizz & Bubble Lip Scrub. The shea butter, avocado oil and vitamin E lock in moisture and promote healthy cell turnover.

Smooth move Aquaphor Healing Ointment repairs cracked, irritated or wind-burned skin, says Bailie Latt, a cosmetology student at Paul Mitchell. Ingredients such as panthenol and glycerin heal dehydrated skin and the petrolatum protects against further damage.

Sleep on it When her everyday moisturizer isn’t enough, Draper relies on the avocado and apricot kernel oil in Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask to quench dry skin, while the Japanese seaweed repairs damage and prevents dryness.

Photography by Jay Bury

VOX MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2018

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CIT Y LIFE TECH

Reality check They’ve been touted as must-haves.

So why aren’t people buying what VR and AR are selling?

BY MCKENNA BLAIR

W

Big companies have eyes on VR and AR, but consumers have been reluctant to latch on, in part due to cost. Instead of focusing on the gaming aspect, Columbia-based VR company StoryUp promotes the tech as an escape from stress.

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hen I first put on an Oculus headset, I tried to throw it across the room. I mean, you can’t blame me. I was leaning over the edge of a digital skyscraper, and my fear of falling didn’t feel so virtual anymore. I stumbled backward into a desk and then remembered none of it was real.

Two years have passed, and virtual and augmented reality have expanded past experiential games. What you’ll see, long before headsets become as common

Photography courtesy of Flickr/Pictures of Money, Max Pixel and Pixabay

C I T Y LI FE TECH

as headphones, are devices that work to weave technology into your everyday life.

Both VR, which tricks your brain into thinking you’re somewhere else, and AR, which digitally enhances the space you’re already in, are continually being tweaked to merge with the world around us. With industry leaders like Google and Facebook pouring billions of dollars into the tech, you might wonder why its use hasn’t skyrocketed.

The hold up Bimal Balakrishnan, director of MU’s Visual Immersion Lab, says the bottom line is that VR and AR simply don’t have enough available software content to enhance people’s lives. “I think the experience is getting better; products are becoming more stand-alone as computing power grows,” Balakrishnan says. “But I think still there is this huge demand for content — what is there?”

For the most part, applications have been limited to gaming and immersive visual experiences. But virtual reality

also has a portability problem. It can’t yet be used as a substitute for the cell phone in your back pocket. Because let’s be honest, if you’re going to give someone directions, you’ll use Google maps, not a headset.

AR vs. VR Some AR products, such as smart glasses, can blend seamlessly into your life without forcing you to trip over cords or stare into a bright screen. But even this easy-to-use tech still lacks the immersive feeling that bigger devices offer.

The Columbia company StoryUp combines AR and VR to help users escape acute stress through immersive, interactive experiences. The current software requires only a headband and headset with no wires or expensive computer.

Sarah Hill, CEO of StoryUp, likens her company’s products to the transformative experience of meditation. “But with virtual and augmented reality, you’re opening your eyes, and you’re transported to another place,” Hill says.

THIS YEAR’S TECH TOYS Samsung Gear VR $130, for use with Galaxy phones Oculus Go $199, an affordable but still high-end VR headset experience HTC Vive $499, a more immersive gaming experience with no wires

Leading the revolution Companies are invested in the success of the separate but similar technologies.

Facebook spent $2 billion acquiring VR company Oculus in 2014, and Google ramped up hiring VR and AR experts by nearly 40 percent in the past year. In May, Oculus released the Oculus Go, a stand-alone headset, costing $199 — a pricing landmark in the industry. Apple reportedly is creating a headset that combines both types of reality, which could arrive as soon as 2020.

But the technology isn’t just for entertainment; it also enhances the way people work. Balakrishnan, who also serves as the department chair of MU’s Department of Architectural Studies, says it helps students design the architecture they imagine. Engineers are using it to build cars, and medical students use it to view the interior systems of human bodies. Practical uses seem to be keeping up with the technological growth, but for now, VR and AR as consumer products aren’t yet a reality.

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VOX MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2018

49

CITY LIFE SPORTS

Fútbol for all

Soccer on MU’s Stankowski Field unites players with international heritage and one common interest: a love of the game.

BY JAKE SUTHERLIN

T

he only borders on Stankowksi Field are the ones everyone sets for the good of the game.

Barring hostile weather conditions or other events that require the MU turf, every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night the field is filled with pick-up soccer games. Sometimes, there are five or six, amassing over 100 players, with most of them men. Other nights, there’s just one with six people. They aren’t exactly organized; there’s no schedule and no set rules. Players walk in and out of matches, with some featuring small portable goals and others with shoes serving as goal posts.

A number of players that frequent the field come from international backgrounds, with some hailing from Bangladesh, Bosnia-Herzegovina, China, India, Iraq, Jamaica, Kenya, Rwanda and Somalia. Four of them who have found a home away from home on Stankowski share their stories and why they return to the field week after week.

Sebastián Martínez Valdivia Born to Peruvian parents, Martínez Valdivia, an adjunct professor at the Missouri School of Journalism, grew up with soccer but drifted away from it as a teenager. The World Cup in 2010 renewed the 27-year-old Columbia native’s love of the sport. Ragtag Cinema had started screening the tournament, and the then-MU sophomore soon found himself skipping classes to watch games. The tournament inspired him to lace up his own cleats and play again.

“It exposes an interesting mix of people from rural Missouri to around the world and learning about each other just by playing soccer,” he says about soccer on Stankowski.

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Corey Smith Smith remembers playing soccer daily with his childhood friends in his hometown, which is in the Parish of Saint Ann, Jamaica. Now, the MU nursing student has a busy weekday schedule, and that combined with Columbia’s colder climate limits his opportunities to play soccer, the one sport he loves playing.

He says he has met players from Hungary, Nigeria and Ethiopia on Stankowski and that the field provides an environment conducive to sharing others’ soccer experiences and stories. Smith doesn’t have a favorite player; he says he’s just a fan of the game.

Omer Caldarevic A former prospect for the Bosnian youth national team, Caldarevic moved to Columbia from Zenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina, when he was 4. The 21-yearold started his Stankowski story as a high school student walking from Hickman High School to the field in the evening to join the games. After high school, he enrolled in Moberly Area Community College in Columbia and later transferred to MU. Caldarevic says his favorite team is Barcelona and his favorite player is Ronaldinho, who most recently played for Fluminense but retired in 2015.

Emmanuel Kayitare, at top, moved to the U.S. from Kigali, Rwanda. Corey Smith, at bottom, grew up near Pedro River in the Parish of Saint Ann, Jamaica.

Emmanuel Kayitare Kayitare moved to the U.S. from Rwanda when he was 17. The now 27-yearold relocated to Columbia from Sedalia in March to work as a quality and process engineer at Schneider Electric.

He played soccer at Henderson State University, where he studied physics and computer science. Kayitare heard about the pick-up games from some of his friends and has been coming ever since to maintain his fitness and meet new people. “(I’m) not professional really,” he says. “I just play to stay fit.”

Photography by Yehyun Kim

C I T Y LI FE BEAUTY

Seeking out salons For people of color, finding a nearby stylist can make you want to pull your hair out.

BY KENNEDY SIMONE

W

hen you walk through downtown, it’s easy to find a hair salon that’s right for you. That is, if you’re not a person of color with hair classified as “coarse.” For us, the search for a salon can be tiresome and disappointing.

When I moved to Columbia in 2014, I arrived with a gym bag full of products to style my thick and coily afro. I didn’t know then that my previously easy hair regimen would become such a stressor. When I ran out of my coil-friendly conditioners, custards and creams, I scoured nearby stores in vain for suitable replacements.

Frustrated and tired, I eventually quit looking and purchased a bottle of clear hair gel. Less than a week later, my hair was a dry, matted, itchy mess.

That launched a second frustration — the fruitless search for a salon that knew how to deal with my mane.

Having a salon within walking distance to style my hair would have saved me a lot of tears and Friday nights at home binge-watching Lost. Black people are the second-largest racial group in Columbia, composing 10 percent of the population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. So why do we feel invisible when looking through the glass windows of many salons? The answer isn’t simple, but the experiences of local

Photography by Shauna Yates

salon owners and stylists describe multiple factors, such as location and lack of client communication, that contribute to the problem.

Roy Lovelady, the current owner of 360 Star Styling Studio on Business Loop 70 East, says the high cost of commercial real estate downtown limits the number of black salon owners. “Most of the (black) salons are on the outskirts of town,” he says. “The downtown salons cost more. All the buildings downtown cost a lot more.” Setting up shop outside of downtown cuts some salon owners off from clients who depend on walking to get where they need to go.

Daniel Lewis, a barber at Hudson Hawk Barber & Shop and an alumnus of the Academy of Hair Design in Springfield, Missouri, says clients often hesitate to cross racial lines with their barbers.

He says his black clients were initially nervous about his skills. “A lot of black clients are raised in a black barber shop, so they’re not used to a white barber being able to give them what they want,” Lewis says.

Despite these issues, stylist education signals positive development. At the Paul Mitchell School in Columbia, where Lovelady worked, students go through a seven-week CORE training when they start at the school. This part of the 11-month cosmetology program

360 Star Styling Studio 1205 Rangeline St.; 268-7917 Chrystal L. Hair & Makeup 1200 E. Walnut St., Suite 201; 441-6398 Hudson Hawk 30 S. Ninth St.; 818-2301

People with different hair types and textures can struggle when looking for a suitable (and walkable) salon to care for their hair.

includes a week of instruction solely dedicated to textured hair, says Mac Maupin, the school’s admissions leader. At the Springfield hair academy, education on styling different hair types is built into the curriculum and the school invests in diverse mannequins for students to practice on, Superintendent Linda Daugherty says.

Sascha Leuridan is a licensed hairstylist at the Chrystal L. Hair & Makeup salon, the black-owned salon on Columbia’s south side where I get my hair done by owner Chrystal L. Graves. When I first met Leuridan, I was shocked to watch her wash, detangle and cornrow the long, thick, curly hair of her young, black client with ease.

I’d never seen a stylist with her hair type style a client with Afro-textured hair like mine. But to Leuridan, stylists should never turn someone away just because they don’t know how to work with that hair type. “When you go into a shop as a customer, don’t be nervous about someone who doesn’t look like you doing your hair,” Leuridan says.

Whether you’re a stylist with straight strands or a client with kinky coils, try to think beyond skin color during your next hair appointment.

You’ll only know if you give someone a chance, and that goes for both stylists and clients.

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SURE, AT FIRST I WAS A LITTLE TAKEN ABACK

BY THE WHOLE PEEING STANDING UP THING. BUT I TAUGHT HIM TO THROW A STICK AND NOW HANGING OUT WITH HIM IS THE BEST PART OF MY DAY. — EINSTEIN adopted 12-09-10

C ALE N DAR

TO-DO LIST

another spectacular evening of sparkling costumes and dances. The show is for those 18 years and older.

Your curated guide of what to do in Columbia this month.

Dec. 7, 9:30 p.m., Rose Music Hall, $6, in advance; $8 day of, 874-1944

ARTS

Clever Little Lies

Leader of the Pack

Alice knows something is wrong when her husband returns home anxious from a tennis match with their son. The truth leads Alice to dig deeper for the truth and eventually uncover more than she anticipated. Save the date for a production that is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat.

Transport yourself to early ’60s Brooklyn, where this musical, inspired by singer Ellie Greenwich, takes you through a portrayal of her life interspersed with her biggest doo-wop hits. Nov. 30–Dec. 1, 7:30 p.m.; Dec. 2, 2 p.m.; Dec. 7–8, 7:30 p.m., Macklanburg Playhouse, $18; $9, students and seniors, 442-2211

Dec. 7 –8, 7:30 p.m.; Dec. 9, 2 p.m.; Dec. 13–15, 7:30 p.m.; Dec. 16, 2 p.m., Talking Horse Productions, $15; $13, seniors and students, 607-1740

Iconic Restaurants of Columbia Don’t miss author Kerri Linder as she discusses her new book Iconic Restaurants of Columbia. She’ll be joined by some of the featured restaurant owners, who will share their experiences about the city’s go-to places for grub. Dec. 1, 1–3 p.m., Boone County History & Culture Center, Free, 4438936

Mary Poppins Jr.

Join the TRYPS Children’s Theater show for a night of music and merriment with Mary Poppins Jr. Get in the holiday spirit, and watch as the classic Disney tale unfolds. Dec. 1–2, 2 and 7 p.m., Warehouse Theatre, $12; $7, children, 449-4536

March Family Christmas

Based on the beloved book Little Women, this annual holiday performance focuses on the March sisters, the novel’s main

The Ultimate Christmas Show (Abridged) characters. Enjoy a night of Christmas carols, dancing and treats as the sisters try to keep their spirits up while their father is away at war. Dec. 2–5, 7:30 p.m., Stephens College Historic Senior Hall Parlors, $18, 442-2211

Noël

A young girl’s search to find her missing mother leader her to a diverse group of people who’ve lost faith in humanity.

With help from one another, they rediscover the magic of Christmas.

Written by Artemis Fowl author Eoin Colfer, this musical is an inspiration for the whole family. Dec. 5, 7 p.m., Jesse Auditorium, $34–54, 882-3781

Photography by Ellie Cherryhomes/Archive

Masters Exhibit Reception Sager Braudis Gallery unveils its fifth annual 2018 Masters Exhibit. Celebrate with an opening reception at Sager Braudis from 6 to 9 p.m. on Dec. 7. Titled Mid-Century Abstraction: The American Vanguard, the display features nonrepresentational abstract works by major artists. Dec. 4–29, Tues.–Sat., 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sager Braudis Gallery, Free, 442-4831

Rose Risque XII: The Saint Louis Invasion For the 12th year, Amber Adelaide and Bourbon LaRue host a night of glitz and glam with this burlesque show. Watch as four performers put on

DON’T MISS IT Let the seasonal festivities begin with the Living Windows Festival.

Downtown CoMo shops make room in store-front windows for live holiday performances. Dec. 7, 6–8 p.m., North Village Arts District, Free, 442-6816

Looking for a laugh? Just in time for the holidays, the Reduced Shakespeare Company takes its audience on a festive, irreverent journey with its holiday show. If you’re in the spirit, bring a present valued at $5 or less, and join the audience gift exchange. Dec. 12, 7 p.m., Missouri Theatre, $38; $28, children, 882-3781

100: What Time Creates Skylark Bookshop will hold the launch party for Columbian Anastasia Pottinger’s new book 100: What Time Creates.

Pottinger’s photography book features her blackand-white portrait series of people who have lived 100 years and beyond. Dec. 19, 7–8 p.m., Skylark Bookshop, Free, 777-6990

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CALENDAR

mystery. This interactive dinner party leads players to different characters with clues. Costumes based off Great Gatsby and a gourmet meal will be provided.

Sing! An Irish Christmas Come sing your holiday favorites with Ireland’s own Keith and Kristyn Getty, known for their modern hymns and carols, during their seventh annual tour.

The duo fuses music genres such as Celtic, bluegrass, Americana, modern and classical. The show will feature cultural dances and an instrumental band accompanying the Gettys.

Dec. 8, 6–8 p.m., Victorian Country Inn, Hallsville, $59, group rates available, 8192000

MUSIC Holiday Brass Concert This annual concert features faculty and students from the MU School of Music playing seasonal favorites along with some new tunes that’ll inspire the holiday spirit in everyone. Dec. 2, 3 p.m.,

Dec. 19, 7:30 p.m., Missouri Theatre, $28–38, 882-3781

CIVIC Santa’s Little Workshop Craft Show Celebrating its 30th year, Santa’s Little Workshop Craft Show is the place to go for original, handcrafted presents from local Missouri vendors. The workshop is sponsored by Boy Scout Troop 134. Dec. 1, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Ashland Optimist Club, Ashland, 657-2684

Sippy N Paint In partnership with OneMic, Plush Lounge is hosting a donation drive to provide books for Benton Elementary and other items for families in need. RSVP for free, or for $35, your child can paint a canvas and get a picture taken with Santa. Brunch will be provided by Papadoo’s Soul Food and BBQ. Dec. 2, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Plush Lounge, Free–$35, 314-2569010

Holiday Lights and Sights Tour Tour the city’s holiday lights from the comfort of a Columbia Parks and

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Recreation mini-bus as local homeowners show off their best decorations.

Pre-registration is required.

Dec. 7; weather make up on Dec. 14, 6:15–7:30 p.m. or 7:45–9 p.m., Activities and Recreation Center, $7.50, 817-5077

Holiday Craft and Vendor Fair Want to find a way to give back to your community?

Start your holiday shopping while supporting Battle High School’s Future Business Leaders of America at its third annual holiday craft fair. You can buy from booths of local vendors and crafters. Dec. 8, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Battle High School, $2, 214-3300

Christmas at the Magic Tree Missouri Disability Empowerment and Columbia’s Special Education PTA brings an inclusive Christmas

VOX MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2018

celebration to CoMo. Gather around the Magic Tree. Stay warm with hot chocoalate and get excited for a visit from Santa.

Other activities include face painting, crafts and music.

Dec. 14, 5–7 p.m., Village of Cherry Hill, email: team@moempower.com

FOOD Christkindlmarkt The third annual German street market includes a a variety of holiday-themed booths that’ll sell food, crafts, woodworking and Christmas trees. There will also be an outdoor bar with plenty of Gluhwein, a warm wine typically served during the holiday season. Dec. 7, 5:30–8:30 p.m., Günter Hans, Free, 256-1205

Great Gatsby Dinner Theater Make the time between courses a bit more interesting with a murder

Missouri United Methodist Church, $10; $5, students, 443-3111

DON’T MISS IT

Handel’s Messiah

DanceAbility Winter Showcase: The Polar Express is a performance that gives dancers with different abilities the opportunity to explore and develop new skills through the art of movement. Dec. 8, 6 p.m., Windsor Auditorium, Stephens College, $5, 825-0095

Featuring the Christmas portion of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah, the Memorial Baptist Church adult choir incorporates a madrigal and soloists performance alongside the full choir in this early celebration of Christmas.

Dec. 9, 6:30 p.m., Memorial Baptist Church, $23; $16, children, 443-1408

Showcase Ensemble Concert The Velvetones and A Class Act Musical Theater Troupe present a series of vocal jazz and musical theater numbers for their winter concert.

Dec. 11, 7:30 p.m., Stephens College Historic Senior Hall Recital Hall, Free, 442-2211

Clash of the Titans: Heart vs. Ozzy For a third year, tribute bands perform in an intense Photography by Derek Poone/Archive

C ALE N DAR

battle to find out who reigns champion. Heart will be performed by Invincible Heart, a Columbia band that plays top hits from Pat Benatar and Heart.

Ozzy Osbourne will be performed by the St. Louis band Madman’s Diary, an Ozzy tribute band. Dec. 15, 8 p.m., doors; 9 p.m. show, The Blue Note, $6, in advance; $8, day of, 874-1944

Groovement and Dumpster Kitty

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Groovement, a six-man band from Arkansas, specializes in funk-rock music. They join swamp disco band Dumpster Kitty for a night of powerful energy. Dec. 27, 8:30 p.m., Rose Music Hall, $5, in advance; $7, day of, 874-1944

SPORTS Mizzou Women’s Basketball vs. South Dakota Before you break the huddle for the holidays, make the trek over to Mizzou Arena to cheer on the women’s hoops squad as they take on the Summit League champion South Dakota Coyotes. Dec. 15, 3 p.m., Mizzou Arena, $8; $5, children, 884-7297

Kringle Jingle 5K Ring in the holiday with a little exercise. Through on your Santa hat, bring your jingle bells, and take a jog through CoMo. Proceeds from the race benefit the nonprofit Rainbow House.

Sign up before Dec. 13 to receive a race T-shirt. The race will start at 300 N. Tenth St. Dec. 15, 8-11 a.m., North Village Arts District, $15-40, 445-2664 VOX MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2018

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“Four days tailor-made for

film lovers, festival lovers, documentary lovers, and anyone who likes to have

a grand old time.”

- Matt Holtzman, The Document, KCRW

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FEB 28–MAR 3, 2019 COLUMBIA, MO

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