THE
IRON BLADE
Vol. 60, No. 8
Table of Contents:
SINCE 1955
60 Years of Ferrum College News
Celebrity Journalist Beth Macy Visits
they were performing in the Barnum and Bailey circus, one of the most famous traveling circuses in the world. In the years following, George and Willie unintentionally became a symbol of the civil-rights movement. Truevine tackles that angle of their ordeal and explores the key moral dilemma of their story; were the Muse brothers better off before they were kidnapped, or did it spare them the harsh vulnerability of southern, black life in the early 20th century? At the time of their kidnapping, the Roanoke Commonwealth Attorney was also the founder and head of
by Patrick Duggan Celebrity journalist Beth Macy spent the last couple months touring the country in support of her new book, Truevine, with stops in Richmond, Washington DC, and New York City. On Oct. 25, she spent an evening at Ferrum College talking to students and faculty about how she dug up the incredible story behind the book, which took place only a short drive from Ferrum’s campus. In the early 1900s in Truevine, VA, brothers George and
Willie Muse were kidnapped by the circus. Dramatic Albinism, prominent African features, and thick dreadlocks made them golden side-show material in Jim Crow eras southern Virginia. The original legend was accompanied by varying accounts of how George a n d Wi l l i e w e r e snatched. According to Truevine native A.J. Reeves, who is now 102 years old, they were taken from the Rocky Mount carnival. Macy has her own theory: their mother, Harriet Muse, may have actually leased them to the circus expecting they would be returned. Instead, the showmen told them their mother was dead and that they should stop crying. The Muse Brothers worked that job without pay for almost 30 years. They were traded and sold into circus after circus under an array of stage names, including “Eko and Iko,” “The Ecuadorian Savages,” and “Ambassadors from Mars.” When Harriet finally found them after 28 years of searching,
by Nia Pettiford Sat. Nov. 5 the Panthers Den was under the trance of hypnotherapist Steven Stone. At promptly 7pm Stone invited 10 guests to the stage. Within minutes of being on stage Stone spoke his words and made all of the participants fall asleep with the touch of a finger and the sound of a word. “The experience was crazy! It didn’t even feel like an hour, “said freshman Janessa Arce directly after being hypnotized. “I kind of don’t remember anything but I do remember some. I feel weird right now but I know I would want to be hypnotized again.” Stone had participants believing they were celebrities singing happy birthday to fans and Japanese rappers conducting interviews with translators. One participant went as far as believing he was a fairy princess and was able to make his fellow
participants fall asleep. The experience was promised to be relaxing; seeing that participants were put to sleep at least three times during the show. Junior Selden Poole called the experience “relaxing” saying, “I was asleep but never truly went to sleep. I am now rejuvenated.” Along with Poole, fellow participant, freshman Jason Elliot said, "it was the best sleep I’ve had throughout the whole semester.” Though thought to be a sort of magic hypnotism is actually a science called Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). Stone uses specific words and word patterns that can mean one thing to the participants and something different to audience members. The trade was not picked up overnight, as Stone trained for five years, 8 hours a day to be able to do what he can do. In his hometown, Stone has a practice where he performs therapies and
helps those that struggle with disorders such as PTSD. Stone says he keeps his mind sharp by reading one book a day.
page 2 - Ferrum alumnus catches up
page 4 - Panthers pull out a victory in Homecoming page 5 - Seniors in Sports page 7 - Trunk of Treat Photospread page 8 - What's Going on in the Theatre Department? page 9 - Opinion: Donald Trump and the 2016 election
page 10 - Students celebrate Day of the Dead
December , 2016
Cont. on Page 11 photos courtesy of Alyssa Parsons
Hypnotist Wows Crowd As Students Fall Into Trance
photo by Nia Pettirfod
Hypnotist visited campus and put a group of students into a trance.