introduces the new barbershop swagger
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE Mary Anne Jordan’s fiber and textile masterpieces // Flash Floods’ prairie indie rock revival // Ric Averill and the Songbook Emily Kate Johnson’s Nostalgia // Viv Prô’s pies Emily Schwerdtfeger’s reads and strolls Tips for your Tarragona tour ... and more!
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EDITOR
Nathan Pettengill
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Shelly Bryant
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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Melinda Briscoe Katherine Dinsdale
Amber Fraley Susan Kraus
Cheryl Nelsen Meta Newell West
Nick Spacek Darin M. White
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Fally Afani Jason Dailey
Brian Goodman Susan Kraus
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great St. Patrick’s Day parade, the Lawrence Busker Fest, KU Relays, and more. But one of the oldest traditions is graduation. Most any American community will celebrate commencement in one way or another—either at schools across the city or by honoring graduates from a small town who attend school in a regional center. But Lawrence, with a long history of two universities, public schools, and private schools seems to center much of its spring calendar around the city’s graduation ceremonies, all carefully coordinated in order not to interfere with one another.
Writer Amber Fraley brings us a sampling of the history of Lawrence’s graduation ceremonies in her regular column, Lawrencium. It’s a fitting tribute considering that 2023 will mark 100 years since Lawrence moved its high school from its second location on Ninth and Kentucky streets into what is now Lawrence Memorial Central Middle School—a building that holds so many memories, and continues to create new ones, for generations of Lawrencians.
What is so valuable about graduation ceremonies is that they can remind us of the power of knowledge—not only a programmed study that comes at a young age and serves as a rite of passage into adulthood, but also the possibility of transformative education—formal or informal—at any stage of our lives. That is a key theme in our cover story of Jermaine “Gametime” Jackson’s inaugural Cuttin’ It Up barber competition, where many of the competitors and organizers talk about how barber college changed their life, but more specifically how a mentor in the profession taught them valuable skills and lessons—gave them an education and a personal affirmation.
For example, competition winner Josh Strong got his barbering license in Indiana in 2010 and went on to work in New Mexico and Arizona before returning to Kansas—and to people who would elevate his life and career. The impact of two of them—Jackson and Strong’s grandmother, who operated Guys and Dolls hair salon in Lawrence for over 25 years—is described in the story that begins on page 40. But there were other local mentors who shaped Strong’s life as well. Cristina Ramirez, who ran a hair salon in Osawatomie, helped Strong get through a rough patch in his life by setting him up in her shop and giving him every male customer who walked through the door.
“She was a godsend,” says Strong. “My mom and my stepdad, Leanne and Wallace Renfro, supported me through those rough years, while Ramirez built me up professionally and taught me what I know about showing up and being a business person.”
In 2019, Strong bought a gym in Paola to convert into a combination gym/barbershop. He got help from his brother, Jeremiah; his father, Ed Strong; and a friend, Kyle Hudson. And then, as monumental events in life have a way of doing, the project reconnected Strong to one of his earliest mentors, construction manager Luke Goode. Strong and Goode grew up together, and Strong had always looked up to Goode, who was two years older. When Strong was 12, the age where he decided that nobody else knew how to cut his hair other than himself, he bought a pair of clippers at Walmart and came to Goode for help.
“He showed me what he knew,” Strong recalls, “and from there I was cutting my own hair and giving others haircuts as well.”
And now, having fully converted his building into a working gym/barbershop, Strong teaches others what he has learned. Some of the words and wisdom are his own, some is simply passing on what his mentors once taught him, a transformative education that spreads from one generation to the next.
Nathan Pettengill, editor
Fally Afani has received several Kansas Association of Broadcasters awards as well as an Edward R. Murrow award for her online work in over 20 years of journalism. She is also the recipient of the Rocket Grant Award, which helped develop live music events for Lawrence.
After 32 years of advising high school journalists and teaching English, Cheryl Nelsen decided to do a bit of writing of her own after her retirement.
Brian Goodman runs his own editorial, landscape and stock-image photography studio from his home in Lawrence, where he frequently pulls in his dog, Millie, as a willing and eager model.
An award-winning travel writer, Susan is also the author of a Kansas-based mystery series, the Grace McDonald books, released by Flint Hills Publishing.
A music and film writer, Nick can often be found on his couch with his cats, his wife and a terrible horror film playing near him. He blogs regularly at his site, rockstarjournalist.com, and produces the podcast From & Inspired By.
In addition to interviewing fellow artists for Lawrence Magazine, award-winning artist and sculptor Darin M. White continues to create works on his own and with his wife, Shannon White, as Hava Art Studio.
features
Three Lawrence barbers establish a new competition to celebrate clean lines, unbroken fades, a bit of swagger, and a new professional camaraderie
Artist Mary Anne Jordan creates textiles and fibers rooted in tradition and defiance
smorgasbord
10 ‘It’s Gonna Be a Good Time’
In the bars and on the stage, young and established Lawrence performers tap into the essence of the local music scene
14 Drinking & Pouring
—With a Sound Mind
After making a choice to continue to live, a Lawrence bartender opens her establishment featuring sophisticated nonalcoholic drinks
40
20 Pies by the Prô
Teenage baker Vivenne Prô returned from a family vacation with a new interest in baking the perfect pie
50 people
25 Lawrencium: High School Graduations
Facts and figures about one of Lawrence’s oldest traditions: graduation ceremonies
28 Walk-Speed Reading
In an age of audiobooks, portable readers, and playlists, Emily Schwerdtfeger still takes her reading with a spine and on the go places
34 Tarragona
So, you like to visit or would like to see Barcelona, but wish it were not so crowded and full of tourists like yourself? Travel writer Susan Kraus has a perfect alternative destination for you.
61 Spring 2023 Events
Listening to Halfway to Anywhere, the latest release from Lawrence band Flash Floods, one immediately notices the blend of two genres that define some of the best aspects of the Lawrence music scene: indie rock and roots music. And that’s no accident, according to the trio of band members: guitarist and vocalist Christopher Langwell, drummer Frank Mosier, and bassist Zack Krishtalka.
“We all listen to bands like the Arctic Monkeys and the Strokes,” Krishtalka explains one night over drinks with the band at the Eighth Street Taproom. “Weezer—we grew up on that. But then, Chris, as he wrote a lot of these songs …”
“I feel like I kind of veered off into bluegrass, country type of music,” Langwell says as he picks up the narrative. “When I first tried to write songs, I would try to write old country songs. But for some, I wasn’t talented enough. It just all came out sounding punk rock-ish.”
Mosier has a similar take: “I always tell people, ‘It’s like a mix between Tom Petty and the Strokes. It kind of has a Southern twang to it, but not that much.’ It’s a Midwestern vibe, for sure.”
It’s almost as though Flash Floods have resurrected the sound of Lawrence in the late ’90s and early ’00s, when prairie indie rock bands like Fourth of July and Connor held sway at local venues almost weekly. It’s no surprise to the band that they play well with the middle-aged Gen-X crowd that remembers those times.
“A lot of our friends’ parents like us,” Langwell jokes. “I’ll take it as a compliment.”
That being said, this is a band of creative fans, not mimicking devotees. A song like Halfway to Anywhere’s “I Don’t
Wanna Know,” with its woozy guitars and utterly bounceable rhythm, sounds absolutely fresh in 2023.
Part of this sound might come from the band’s closeness with one another. Spend even five minutes with the guys in Flash Floods, and you can tell that the trio has known each other a long time, having played in bands together for nearly half their lives.
“We used to play in bands as kids, and we’d have jams in junior high,” Langwell recalls. “I was a drummer, Frank was on guitar, Zach was on bass, and we never really had a singer or we’d have a rotating kind of lead singer who wouldn’t ever work out.”
Then, Langwell continues, somewhere along the way as a young adult he started writing music. Since he knew Mosier played drums as well as guitar, he reached out to his friend to see if he’d be interested in making music again.
“He sent us his albums, like, ‘Yeah, let’s get this live thing going,’” Mosier recalls. “I was listening to him on repeat at my job, and then it all came together. I just remember being like, ‘Hell yeah, dude. I want to play drums for this. It’s gonna be a good time.’”
And it has been. Flash Floods have toured throughout the Midwest and beyond, winning over a crowd of University of Oklahoma Sooners fans after a football game and capturing the attention of a St. Louis bar during Mardi Gras. It has something to do with the band’s chill vibes and unwillingness to let themselves be pigeonholed.
“We’re definitely always open to playing to different groups of people,” Langwell explains. “Every bar has its own niche or community, and I feel like we’re always down to play for whoever, regardless of the spot.”
In the bars and on the stage, young and established Lawrence performers tap into the essence of the local music scene
“Every bar has its own niche or community, and I feel like we’re always down to play for whoever, regardless of the spot.”
—Christopher LangwellRic Averill
Playwright, actor, singer, songwriter—there are many words to describe the roles Ric Averill performs, but there are likely just as many to describe just who Ric Averill is and his influence on the local arts scene. Meeting with the man one morning at the Cellar Door Cafe, I realize that even if I were to drink several cups of coffee, I’d still be repeatedly surpassed by this veteran actor’s energy.
On this day, we are here to discuss the Seem-To-Be-Players Songbook Family Concert, a late-March performance at the Lawrence Arts Center, which was recorded to capture longtime musical favorites like “The Trash Song,” “The Pirate Song,” and “The Hole in the Roof” for generations to come. Making a recording of the songbook is way to turn the ephemeral, theater-experience of the songs into something more permanent.
“We want to release this music, probably in multiple ways,” Averill explains, saying that the recording of the songbook, a project in partnership with the Americana Music Academy, also could have multiple purposes.
“A couple of these songs could be streamed. Wouldn’t it be great if you were a grade-school teacher and you had a video of somebody dancing to ‘The Pirate Song’?”
Averill explains that he can teach any class of elementaryschool kids the lyrics and dance steps to “The Pirate Song” in about 10 minutes, so these pieces are perfect for teachers looking for auxiliary material. It’s a model Averill has worked with before.
“A couple of times I’ve done workshops where I’ve taken a couple of the songs that I do and given them to the teachers,” Averill recalls, noting that creating high-quality, permanent recordings takes the concept to a higher level.
Averill has been playing these songs on the banjo and the piano for decades as part of the Seem-To-Be Players, who, from their inception in 1973 to 1983, performed every Saturday afternoon for ten months of the year. The troupe has performed shows based on legends and folklore, including Baba Yaga, Theseus and the Minotaur, and Sleepy Hollow. Each performance included a short break and musical interlude between stories. The troupe called these breaks an “olio,” after an old vaudeville term for supporting acts.
“For kids, we would always feature one or two seasonal songs or specialty songs,” Averill explains. “And oftentimes those songs . . . made it into the long list of songs that actually worked. Several of the songs were developed at Hilltop Daycare Center when I was the music teacher for them, and would see kids twice a week.”
As Averill explains, the children at the daycare center were ages three to five and didn’t care how many times he played a song, nor did they care that he was changing the words as he went because he was also writing the song as he went.
“So,” relates Averill, “a lot of these songs got really seasoned by being played dozens of times to small children.”
A perfect example of just how well the Seem-To-Be Players’ songs have lasted comes from late in their touring phase, October of 2003 or 2004. At St. Paul’s Episcopal, Averill prepared to play “Ghostly Hall,” a song in which he sings “Oooh-oooh” and describes all the things one does in the haunted house of the title.
“I got ready, go play the banjo, and when I went, ‘Oooh-oooh,’ the whole audience goes, ‘Oooh-oooh,’” Averill says with some amazement. And then I started the verse, and they all are singing. We got done with the whole show and I went up to one of the teachers and I said, ‘Why does everybody know that song?’”
They’d known that song for about 15 years, was the reply. A former teacher had the first Seem-To-Be Players’ songbook, and when she came to the school, she taught all the kids “Ghostly Hall.”
“So, we sing that every year,” concludes Averill. “It would be wonderful to have a few more songs like that to get out there like that.”
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Emily Kate Johnson, proprietor of Nostalgia Room, a temperate bar and lounge in downtown Lawrence, can whip you up a tart and tangy Sunday Dress in a sweet little green and pink ruffled glass. The drink’s taste might take you back to childhood with a name that might conjure up memories of Sunday mornings watching Noah’s Ark stories told on a flannel board. Ask for the handcrafted cocktail commemorating the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, and you will receive it in a red, white, and blue old-fashioned glass that might conjure scenes of staying up late to watch the moon landing.
What the drinks won’t do is give you a buzz.
Nostalgia Room, which opened last fall, offers a deliciously intriguing and joyful menu of drinks without alcohol. Located upstairs in the Repetition Coffee building at 512 E. 9th Street, Nostalgia caters to the sober curious—those investigating
drinking less often or not at all—and those who simply do not drink. Johnson says people choose nonalcoholic drinks for myriad reasons. Some make that choice to improve or preserve their mental or physical health; others cite religious or valuesdriven reasons. And many, Johnson is quick to add, choose not to drink because they want to stay alive.
That last choice, a bid for survival, is part of Johnson’s story. The Lawrence High graduate turned 30 just before opening the Nostalgia Room. The preceding decade had included too much drinking, she says. After studying photography in Boston for a short time, she returned to Lawrence at age 19 and then began bartending at age 21.
“I learned cocktail bartending. It was a craft for me from the beginning. We served a high volume of drinks every night, and I learned quickly. I was good at combining flavors, picking
OPPOSITE Emily Kate Johnson opened the alcohol-free Nostalgia Room in the fall of 2022.
Story by Katherine Dinsdale Photography by Jason Dailey
After making a choice to continue to live, a Lawrence bartender opens her establishment featuring sophisticated nonalcoholic drinks
glassware. And I also began to drink heavily. The time then was such a dichotomy of darkness and light,” Johnson recalls. “I was gaining skills I’ll use for a lifetime, and I was acquiring demons that will plague me forever, as well.”
According to Johnson, it was not the particular crowd or culture of any one venue in particular—but of the city’s entire drinking scene.
“During those years I found the drinking culture of Lawrence unrelenting. It is always an option to drink, any time of the day. No one questions you,” Johnson says. “I would finish a shift and be thoroughly amped up. I’d go out afterwards and drink. And then I’d drink all day on my day off.”
Eventually, that routine took a toll on her physical and mental health.
“In the end, I had to make the decision to quit drinking for myself. I had to decide to take care of myself. I had to decide I am worth being present for. I needed to quit vacating myself.”
And so, Johnson quit drinking. Each sobriety story is unique. Some read books on sobriety, others listen to podcasts, and
Emily Kate Johnson spends hours carefully perfecting each offering on her menu, selecting ingredients, glassware, garnishes and mixing flavors for just the right depth, balance, and complexity.
“I think of it as breaking down an existing cocktail and building it back up. When I craft a martini I think, ‘What does a martini do?’ I make my own vermouth and use three different gin alternatives to achieve the taste I want. With a normal martini you could use 2.5% gin and vermouth and call it a day. But for me, that doesn’t work. I have to combine a lot of things.
“I use all kinds of teas and vinegars and change them as needed. I make the teas extra bitter or maybe I over-steep. I create many different flavor profiles. The drink itself is a conversation. The things in it are good for you. Carrot and elderberry juice, combined with ginger, packs a punch. I like to be inspired by cultures all over the world.
“My goal,” Johnson says, “is to let the drink shine for what it is.”
OPPOSITE Johnson believes that nonalcoholic drinks should have the rituals and ceremony equal to or better than those of alcohol alternatives.“Every day, I wake up and I decide to stay sober.”
–Emily Kate Johnson
many attend AA. Johnson got a therapist, and then she found her way to sobriety through difficult choices.
The tradition of Dry January is a good thing for the sober curious, “but I am dry 100 percent of the time,” Johnson says. “It was not the public interest in sobriety that got me sober. I had to make a choice that I wanted to live.”
Two years later, she continues making the choice.
“Every day, I wake up and I decide to stay sober.”
Johnson says initially she found sobriety to be incredibly lonely. “So much in our culture, in advertising and entertainment and in language and habits is all about drinking,” she says. “We hear about mommy’s juice and liquid courage. Glorified drinking is everywhere.”
It can be an ostracizing choice to abstain. “Sometimes people feel unseen or less-than because they are not partaking in the cultural norm,” Johnson says, “but I don’t want my customers to feel less-than or like a child because they aren’t drinking. We’ve always had rituals surrounding drinks, whether it is a cup of coffee in the morning or a beer at a ball game. Making and serving a beautiful nonalcoholic drink can be a kind of love language that fosters the best of those rituals.
“Many younger people are disillusioned with alcohol. Many are pushing back against tech and want to find genuine social connection. They find that connecting is easier with a sound mind,” Johnson says. “If by supporting sobriety I can save a young person his or her 20s, I will have done my job.”
Smashing the Liquor Machine: A Global History of Prohibition by Mark Lawrence Schrad is a 600-page history of the liquor business tucked in a Nostalgia Room bookshelf. Business owner Emily Johnson says she’s read most of the wall of books at her bar, including Smashing.
“There’s something in this book for everyone,” Johnson says. “Schrad dispels the story we’ve been told about Prohibition, about who was behind the movement and why. Reading about the history of the liquor trade helps me understand why sobriety is threating to the liquor industry.”
Schrad explains Prohibition as an international social movement linked with a list of progressive causes including abolition, universal suffrage and labor rights, as well as anticolonialism in countries where the liquor trade was seen as a tool of imperialism. According to Schrad, Prohibition was all about protecting the vulnerable poor from predatory capitalists.
A well-stocked alcohol-free cocktail bar at your home can extend hospitality and welcome to guests who choose not to imbibe. Start with beautiful glassware, a set of rocks glasses and some coupe glasses.
Add sparkling drinks—craft sodas, ciders, or ginger sodas—as well as lemon, lime, and grapefruit juices. These are popular mixers for nonalcoholic drinks. Locally, nonalcoholic versions of tequila, rum, bourbon, vodka and other spirits are available at Cork and Barrel, 23rd Street.
Cork and Barrel co-owner Alicia Smiley says nonalcoholic spirits that add floral or botanical flavors are a big hit in this market. Smiley’s suggestions for the home bar include Fee Brothers Orange Flower Water and mixers from Fever-Tree. Smiley says her personal favorite is a tie between Fee Brothers Elderflower Tonic Water and Cucumber Tonic Water.
Nostalgia Room owner Emily Kate Johnson says be sure and read the labels of any products you buy. Some products might surprise you by containing small amounts of alcohol. She suggests All the Bitter alcoholfree cocktail bitters. Gin alternatives she uses in martini recipes are Pentire’s Seaward and Adrift. Optimist Botanicals’ Smokey is a good mescal alternative, but Johnson says it also stands on its own as a complex nonalcoholic spirit.
Figlia’s aperitivo Fiore Frizzante is another of Johnson’s favorites. Tasting notes advertise “ruby in the glass with floral aromatics. Sparkling bubbles and lemon add a zesty kick to foundational notes of rose, bitter orange, and clove.”
Described by her family as creative, spunky and honest, 13-year-old Vivenne Prô is also an adventurous, quick and logical learner who likes a challenge. One of her most recent projects began late last year with a vacation stroll and a cookbook full of recipes from a famous pie shop.
“Last November my family went to New York because my dad was running in the New York Marathon,” Viv recalls. “We went walking around one day and came across the Paper Source shop where I found a thick book filled with pie recipes.” The book, Petra Paredez’s Pie for Everyone: Recipes and Stories from Petee’s Pie, New York’s Best Pie Shop, instructs how to make pies and tells plenty of stories behind the mixing and baking.
Viv’s father, Stephan Prô, says he was “a bit surprised” by his daughter’s choice of NYC souvenirs, but notes that the entire family was soon enjoying Viv’s new hobby. For his birthday—one month after returning home from New York—Stephan received a Viv-made coffee cream pie that he rates as “the best pie I have ever tasted.”
Often described as part science, part art, and even a sprinkling of magic, pie-making begins with the crust. Viv discovered the “magic” as she followed the step-by-step directions with photographs that show exactly what the dough should look like at each stage. Using the suggestions in the book, she mixed the crust ingredients by hand, which allowed her to feel the dough and receive valuable feedback, including whether there are still large pieces of butter that need to be broken down into smaller chunks or if the dough is getting too warm and needs to be refrigerated.
While pie crust ingredients are basic—flour, fat, water and salt—Paredez’s basic recipe adds a bit of sugar and starts with boiling water.
“The boiling water is used to dissolve the sugar and salt, and then it all goes into the freezer for a few minutes,” Viv explains.
Having made many successful crusts, Viv has become an advocate for made-from-scratch rather than packaged pie crusts.
Photography by Brian Goodmanbaker Vivenne Prô returned from a family vacation with a new interest in baking the perfect pie
How do you know if you have baked the perfect pie crust? Here’s Vivenne Prô’s checklist for evaluating your creation.
Appearance Golden brown color; blistery surface; uniform, attractive edges; fits pan well.
Tenderness Cuts easily with table knife or fork but holds shape when served.
Texture Flakiness/Crispness Flakes layered throughout crust; crisp eating.
Flavor Pleasant, mild flavor that will enhance the filling.
“Sure, having convenience is nice, but the real question is, does it taste better? I’ll give you a hint. No, it really doesn’t,” she says of the premade crusts. “Making pie crust from scratch may take longer, but when it comes to the long run, having homemade food is so much better than premade.”
Although she’s experimented with other cream pies and made several lattice-covered fruit pies (most notably a sour cherry pie), Viv describes herself as a “recipe follower” for now. But, she adds, “With more experience, I hope to be a recipe creator.”
Pie-making, Viv notes, takes practice and patience. Not everything comes out perfect the first time.
“My first lemon filling didn’t completely set up,” Viv explains.
But undaunted by that failure, the young baker analyzed her recipe, figured out the problem, and set out to turn her next batch of lemons into perfect lemon pie.
Viv’s mother, Joni Prô, says that she noticed her daughter’s interest in baking ever since “she was first able to stand on her own,” and began helping with holiday cooking. Now, Joni says she has handed over responsibility to her daughter for baking desserts for all major holidays the family celebrates.
“It is a proud moment for us as parents to see the passion and love that she puts into her baking,” Joni says.
Young baker Vivenne Prô says the expression “easy as pie,” might not be literally true without knowing a few secrets to the process. Here are her five top tips for making pie crusts.
1. Follow the recipe Follow it from start to finish, but start by reviewing both the ingredient list and the instructions. “I really just learned the process by following the recipe,” Viv explains. “And then when you make it a couple of times, it just starts to stick in your brain.”
2. Use butter Butter adds great flavor and creates beautiful crusts. During baking, the water naturally found in chunks of butter evaporates and causes the dough to puff and separate into layers, creating tender and flaky crusts.
3. Make it cold Use ice-cold butter and water to ensure that the butter remains in chunks and doesn’t get too soft. Viv often places the crust in the refrigerator to chill as she prepares the filling.
4. Roll with less When rolling dough, “less flour on the counter is more,” Viv advises. Adapting a technique she learned when rolling out clay in art class, she turns and picks up the dough as she rolls, making sure it doesn’t stick and is not too thin in any one place. Rolling the crust so that it is a little larger than her 9-inch pie pan allows for enough “wiggle room to add decorative lips around the top edges.”
5. Bake blind When making cream pies, always use the blind bake method, which involves prebaking the crust. To ensure the crust retains its shape and doesn’t puff unevenly during baking, Viv lines the crust with parchment paper and then tops it with a layer of uncooked rice.
Compiled by Amber Fraley
Bishop Seabury Academy
Free State High School
2023 Graduation dates by school
Lawrence High School
Veritas Christian School
“The first high school was built on the ‘Old Chapel’ grounds, and from what I could find was just called the ‘High School’ or ‘Lawrence High School,’ says Kate Grasse, collections manager at Watkins Museum of History. “Its first graduating class was in 1875 and was two students, a boy and a girl. This was the precursor to Liberty Memorial, which opened in 1923, and Lawrence High School, which opened in 1954.”
Bishop Seabury Academy
May 26
Free State High School
May 24
Lawrence High School
May 23
Veritas Christian School
May 20
In an age of audiobooks, portable readers, and playlists, Emily Schwerdtfeger still takes her reading with a spine and on the go
Story by Cheryl Nelsen
Photography by Jason Dailey
She isn’t a traditional celebrity, but people frequently recognize Emily Schwerdtfeger, 27.
“I’ll be at the grocery store and someone will stop me,” Schwerdtfeger says. “I was buying a car at a dealership and the guy said, ‘Hey, are you the girl who . . . ?’”
Yes, she is the woman who reads books while she walks. She does it often enough that one person pulled her car over, got out, politely approached Schwerdtfeger and said, “I’ve been meaning to tell you that I’ve been seeing you for like a year.”
Besides simply saying “hello,” people who have approached her sometimes have asked her what she is reading, and one person gave her a book recommendation. A young girl once asked for a hug because she recognized Schwerdtfeger.
Although these encounters have happened year-round, Schwerdtfeger does more of her walking-reading during warm months.
“I hate the cold weather more than anything. I don’t even know why I still live in a place where it gets below 60 degrees,” she says.
During the winter, it is dark when she gets home from work, so she prefers reading indoors while under a blanket.
Schwerdtfeger, who works full-time as a court advocate for those experiencing a domestic crisis, is not the only person who reads while walking, but she has been consistent about it since studying theater and French at the University of Kansas, where she would read as she traveled across campus to her classes.
“Everyone else must have been more studious and finished everything ahead of time. I wouldn’t finish everything before class, and it takes you 15 to 20 minutes to get to class. You can get a lot done in that time,” Schwerdtfeger says.
Making use of time to read extends to more than her walks outside. Occasionally she squeezes reading into moments when she is involved in everyday tasks.
“If I’m microwaving something. I think, ‘I’ve got three minutes and 15 seconds.’ It’s so boring to wait for the microwave to finish or your water to boil,” she says.
And so, she reads.
In fact, any place Schwerdtfeger might experience downtime is potential reading time. If she has an appointment and might have to wait, she takes a book. If she is going to a friend’s house to hang out, and there might be some gaps in their activities, she has a book.
“Always be prepared!” she says. “Sometimes just taking a walk is boring. I feel like I have something to do when I have a book.”
“Always
–Emily Schwerdtfeger
Walking with a book, however, does have its downside. Schwerdtfeger admits to concentrating so much on her book that she has tripped over things, stubbed her foot on cracks in the sidewalks and bumped into other people.
“I haven’t always noticed that people are on the same sidewalk as me!” she says.
Friends have suggested she use audiobooks during her
50-minute commute to her job at the Rose Brooks Domestic Violence Center in Kansas City. She thinks, however, that audiobooks or podcasts would make it harder for her to focus or follow along.
Schwerdtfeger reads fiction the most, especially mysteries or thrillers, but she is open to many genres. When choosing a book to read while she walks, the content is not the main criteria. Paperback books are easier to carry. The weather also can affect what she might read. Windy days can be difficult because breezes blow the pages. A sunny day can be so bright it affects her ability to see the words on the page.
“Sometimes I’m looking at the white and black page for so long that when I get in my house I can’t see anything,” she says.
Rarely does she read a book on her phone, but when she craves reading a book that isn’t available at the Lawrence Public Library, she will resort to an ebook.
“I can’t say enough wonderful things about the library here. I love it. I don’t usually reread books, and so I don’t feel like it’s worth it for me to buy a book because I’m not going to read it again,” she says.
One of Schwerdtfeger’s regular reading companions is her mother, Carolyn Wahlmark, who is a librarian in Ohio. They choose books, read them, and then discuss them over the phone.
“I started out by mostly just picking mysteries and thrillers because that’s what I’m drawn to. She has recently picked some autobiographies or other books I wouldn’t have chosen. She picked Michelle Obama’s autobiography, which was wonderful, but I wouldn’t have picked it up.” Her father, Glenn Schwerdtfeger, also was instrumental in developing her interest in reading. He would take her from daycare to the library to check out picture books, and Schwerdtfeger would finish looking at all of them during the drive home.
Emily Schwerdtfeger recommends these 5 books from among those she has read while walking in Lawrence over the past year. They are also perfect for stationary reading. At the time of print, all books are available through the Lawrence Public Library.
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams, 2019
100% read this if you need a story about the love we get from our friends and the love we give ourselves.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, 2019
The perfect book to make us rethink what we know about time.
Crying in H Mart: A Memoir by Michelle Zauner, 2021
It did make me cry, and that’s a tough feat. But it also made me think deeper about what family means to me.
The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 2010
The best book of short stories I will ever read. Each story is beautiful and powerful, and I wanted them all to be full novels.
What a Time to Be Alone by Chidera Eggerue, 2018
I liked this one because it helped me feel more comfortable and confident spending time alone and getting to know myself. It’s such an engaging and accessible book.
Now, her favorite books are those by Toni Morrison. She says about Morrison, “The characters seem like they might be eccentric or unreal or exaggerated, but I think they are so realistic. She just has a way of describing real people that makes everyday people seem so amazing. She writes about pain and difficulty and sorrow in a way that you can read it. It is not overwhelming; it’s not overpowering. You feel the connection the way that she describes relationships between communities and families and enemies. I just think it’s beautiful.”
Schwerdtfeger also enjoys reading books translated into English.
“It’s just an interesting way to learn about other cultures and countries,” she says.
Her idea for a unique book club would also enhance her knowledge of other cultures. She is attempting to persuade her mom to do a book club/travel group where the club members go to the places they read about.
Schwerdtfeger says, “How cool would it be to go on a trip to visit the places my mom and I read about in our book club? Nigeria for The Death of Vivek Oji, Mexico for Mexican Gothic, Sweden for A Man Called Ove, Corfu for My Family and Other Animals. Why not a walking tour while reading about the streets where I’m walking? Of course, I would bring too many books and probably not read a single one—that always happens on vacation.”
It was a beautiful autumn afternoon in Tarragona, Spain. Locals packed into the pedestrian-only cobbled streets of the medieval town center, and we were there with them, having found a perch on the side of a rock wall of the 12thcentury Cathedral of Tarragona. All eyes were focused on the street, where a parade unlike anything I’d ever seen before was approaching. Costumed figures led the procession and were marching throughout the ranks. There were magical beasts spouting fire (seriously, fireworks and sparklers erupting from mouths and tails), dragons, sea serpents, massive bulls, a mermaid-dragon, and even a giant golden chicken. Diables (five-foot high handcrafted heads of biblical, historical, and contemporary figures) bobbed past. Surrounding towns were represented by dancers and marchers, all in traditional regalia reflecting their local heritage. Musicians played bagpipes made from goat bellies and skins, drums of all sizes, flutes, and horns. Young girls in white lace dresses and red sashes performed the folk dances of their Catalan traditions. Participating towns were represented by monster mascots and their own strolling bands. It was a riotous mix of colors and sound.
This was the procession celebrating Santa Tecla, a beloved patron saint. Her festival, spanning 10 days each autumn, celebrates the return of a relic, her arm. The year 2022 marked 700 years since its return, but even without that milestone number, it’s clear from the celebrations that this is one very special arm—and that the traditions honoring it are alive and well.
As I stood among the crowd, I couldn’t help but contrast it to a parade in the United States. We would have barricades up and police ensuring no one ran into the street or got close to the fireworks spouting from the costumed creatures. But here there were no barricades, no warning signs. Sitting next to me was a mother, three kids in tow. I asked her if there were rules or guidelines I didn’t know about. She looked confused. “It is Santa Tecla, always the parade like this. So, don’t wear flammable clothing,” she replied, gesturing at two of her children who had run into the street and were hopping up and down around what looked like a dancing, metal-plated armadillo. “See, my kids have on old cotton. They just brush off the sparks.”
After the parade, we walked back to our hotel. In the square, a Catalan band was playing to hundreds of people who were swaying and dancing to the music. There were concerts every night all over the city. People don’t sleep much during Santa Tecla.
But it was the human towers, the next afternoon, the “castels” (castles), that blew me away. Dozens of cities and towns have teams, for the competition; people climb up each other’s backs, stand on each other’s shoulders, many stories high. They do not start to descend, sliding down backs, until a small child completes the tower by climbing to the top and raising a hand.
This authentic, exhilarating celebration was our introduction to a city I had never known much about but is now one of my favorite European destinations.
So, you like to visit or would like to see Barcelona, but wish it were not so crowded and full of tourists like yourself?
Travel writer Susan Kraus has a perfect alternative destination for you.
B&B Hotels (some do not do breakfast, but all have 24-hour coffee) originated in France but is a rapidly expanding European chain. Hotels are smaller, featuring minimalist décor and an IKEA feel. Prices shift with demand, but our shoulder-season rates were under $60 a night. If you’re planning to travel around Europe, consider a low-fee annual membership, with perks like 10% off every stay and more. Staying in Tarragona can be much less expensive than Barcelona, and trains and buses run regularly. Many Barcelona tours are available from Tarragona, with transportation provided.
Like Barcelona, its more famous cousin 52 miles to the north, Tarragona is an eastern Spanish port city on the Balearic Sea, leading to the Mediterranean. It is a modern city of just under 140,000, but with a medieval core of twisty pedestrian streets leading to the magnificent cathedral. Roman ruins seem ubiquitous, from the time when Tarragona was “Tarraco,” one of the earliest Roman settlements on the Iberian Peninsula, more important to the empire than Barcelona, and older than Madrid.
But Tarragona is not detailed in most popular guidebooks, from Fodor’s to Rick Steves. Those omissions are strange because Tarragona feels like how people described Barcelona some 50 years ago—when it was just as wonderful and full of historic and cultural attractions, but not drowning in tourists. Tarragona still has that feel of a rich cultural center, but with less hassle. No lines and no waits for tickets. No jostling in front of tourist photo spots. Tarragona feels different. Relaxed. One example: Many Spanish cities have a rambla, a tree-lined promenade in the middle of the city where people stroll, congregate, and visit. In Barcelona, Las Ramblas is now congested, tourist-driven, dotted by souvenir kiosks every 20 feet, and full of jacked-up prices and pickpockets. But, in Tarragona, the Rambla Nova is for locals: parents pushing strollers, older couples arm-in-arm or sitting on park benches under the trees, and gaggles of teens checking each other out. There are street musicians, but they are not encircled by throngs of tourists. No kiosks. No pickpockets. This rambla is for the people who live here.
Unlike in Barcelona, in Tarragona it is easy to find wonderful and affordable accommodation. Our hotel, the B&B Centro Urbis, was on a corner overlooking the Placa de Corsini, which was lined with umbrella tables of bakeries and restaurants. Across the Placa was the Mercat Central, built in 1915 to house stalls of butchers, fisherman, and vendors of produce, fruit, baked goods, and flowers. Now, the Mercat Central is an upscale market for all of these goods, along with fabulous take-out food. Within the historic building, there are now escalators descending to a modern, spacious underground grocery store.
The sights and daily bustle of Tarragona became our entertainment. We would watch everyday life from the open window of our room. Each morning, parents walked their kids to school across the open square. Each afternoon, kids kicked soccer balls and rode bikes as parents bought groceries for supper at the Mercat. Street musicians provided a backdrop. After just a few days, we were immersed in a different lifestyle—people walked everywhere, were unhurried, relaxed.
Touring Tarragona was serendipitous. We tossed out the checklist and itinerary; we took hours for a meal. It felt good simply to sip wine and watch the parade of ordinary life, so different from our lives at home, passing by.
Of course, there are things to see and do in Tarragona … but being there is pleasurable enough.
• Roman Amphitheater Dating from the 2nd century, when more than 13,000 people would flood this amphitheater to watch gladiators battle—and public executions.
• National Archeological Museum of Tarragona Covers 8 centuries, providing context to understand the city’s cultural evolution.
• Circ Roma Chariot races were held here as far back as the 1st century. Small museum of artifacts. Kids love the tunnels. Great views from the rooftop.
• Cathedral of Tarragona Built on the site of a Roman temple and Moorish mosque, with the Catholic cathedral dating from 1154. I loved the interior cloister. Small museum included.
• El Serallo The Waterfront district has a fishing village feel with pastel houses, waterfront promenade, and cafes with special fish dishes.
• Museum of Modern Art This is a jewel of a museum with changing exhibits. Its modern design is such a contrast to the cobbled streets of the old city that surround it.
• Mercat Central Built in 1915 to centralize the stalls of butchers, fisherman, and other vendors, this is now an upscale shopping area.
• Casa de la Festa This small museum celebrates the festivals’ costumes, parade figures and history. Google “Casa de la Festa in Tarragona” to see delightful pictures of parade beasts and diables.
• Port of Tarragona Museum Maritime history, old ships, and artifacts galore are housed in this high-ceilinged, spacious waterfront warehouse.
• Beaches Playa de Milagro is walkable from the city center, along a bay with gentle waves. There are 15 kilometers of coastline, from rocky ledges to sandy coves. Many more beaches with amenities are with an hour’s drive.
• Trails There are 75 kilometers of paths to hike, mountain bike or ride horseback in and around Tarragona. Tourism offices have maps and suggestions.
• Aqualon A water park with slides, rafting, waterfalls and play equipment for youth and with deck chairs under palm trees for parents.
• Jungle Trek is an adventure park with ziplines, rope bridges, and forest hikes.
For more Tarragona attractions, see tarragonaturisme.cat
TOP A sculpture honors Tarragona’s castel teams. ABOVE A butcher works a stall at the Mercat Central.
Three Lawrence barbers establish a new competition to celebrate clean lines, unbroken fades, a bit of swagger, and a new professional camaraderie
Story
by
Nathan PettengillPhotography by Fally Afani
Barber Fred Dantzler cuts the hair of his model, Markell Williams, during the Cuttin’ It Up competition.
When the door opens, the live music finale spills out along with groups of people drifting into the parking lot from Lawrence’s Venue 1235, the site of the city’s inaugural barbershop showdown.
Janine Colter, a licensed professional cosmetologist and civic leader who had just been honored on stage for her life service of mentoring and organizing, is one of those people heading home after some 5 hours of competition and celebration, but she turns sharply when she sees a young, burly guy with a huge trophy in his hands.
“Man, 22 years in this business and I can recognize good work in our profession!” she shouts to him. “That’s why earlier tonight, I came up to you and said, ‘I’ve got to take a picture with you ’cause I’ve seen your stuff,’” she adds, using a slightly different, more emphatic word for “stuff” that would be recognized in all English-speaking barbershops.
That man, Josh Strong, acknowledges Colter’s compliment with a bright smile that spreads across his face and up against his neatly trimmed reddish-brown beard.
Their exchange causes others to take note of Strong and his trophy as the door opens behind them again.
“The crown!” a man shouts as he points at Strong’s golden prize. “Where you from?”
“I’m from Paola, bro,” Strong answers, seeming to guess that the town’s name might not be what people expect to hear.
“Well … you’re bringing home the crown to Paola. Congratulations, man!” the well-wisher responds.
“I’ll try not to get any dust on it from the gravel roads,” Strong laughs with a nod of thanks and a handshake.
Josh Strong’s victory of Best Overall Cut at the Cuttin’ It Up competition on February 7 was a culmination of a night’s competition among some 20 barbers from metro and rural areas across Kansas and as far away as Omaha. But even more so, it represented distinct new trends in the barbershop profession, in the community of barbers of Lawrence, and in changing racial relations that had marked the profession for decades before this.
And on top of all of this, the evening represented the triumph of a vision and the work of another group of barbers with deep ties to Lawrence: Martin “Marty” Watson, Tim “Nelly” Nelson, and Jermaine “Gametime” Jackson.
In some ways, the Cuttin’ It Up competition began several years ago with Tim Nelson, a senior barber—“he’s the OG barber,” clarifies Watson—at Watson’s Barbershop in the Hillcrest Shopping Center. Nelson sent a group of emails to the Best of Lawrence competition, which was then staffed by several members of this magazine and our parent division, Sunflower Publishing. The emails underlined Nelson’s belief that Watson’s Barbershop, because it draws on clients from around the region and the KU community—and because most of these clients are Black—did not stand a chance in a voting contest in a community where a large majority of barbershops and their clients are White. It was simply a matter of customer demographics, along with a complex legacy of racial relations and justified skepticism toward institutions such as the city’s media outlets.
“I wasn’t frustrated, I was just used to it,” Nelson says. Our magazine responded with email exchanges, an inperson meeting, and an audit by contributor Melinda Briscoe, who suggested ways to alter the contest categories. Based on her suggestions, we implemented categories for Racial Justice Community Leaders and began discussing others, such as breaking down the barbershop categories into specific cuts, including Best Fade, a style that tends to be more popular among the Black and Hispanic communities.
In past decades, not only were popular hairstyles different, but barbershops themselves were perhaps the most segregated locations in Lawrence next to Sunday morning church pews. Institutions like Bud’s Barber Shop, where Wilt Chamberlain and Gale Sayers sat for haircuts, were a fixture and source of pride among the Black community.
But over the past decade these divisions were being overcome. National reality shows and competitions were crossing the country, tapping talent from Black, White, Latino, Asian, and other ethnic barbers who worked together, measured themselves against one another, and trimmed any hair that appeared in their chair.
When we approached Nelson with the idea of reworking the barbershop category in the annual contest, he graciously met with us but had already prepared a more ambitious counterproposal that reflected trends of cut styles crossing beyond racial divisions. Talking with his shop’s owner, Marty Watson, and with his colleague Jermaine “Gametime” Jackson, Nelson had come up with an idea to create a citywide competition that would include a Best Fade category and recognize the new reality for men’s
Jermaine “Gametime” Jackson organized the city’s first barbershop competition.
hairstyles with the growing emphasis on clippers, designs, and sharp lines regardless of the type of hair.
“I hate the terms Black barbershop or White barbershop,” Jackson says. “In a sense, it was and is reality, and it used to be that some barbers might say they didn’t do ‘textured hair.’ But if you say that now, you’re just telling me you don’t do hair. These younger cats that are starting out, they have been trained in both. It’s all about the training.”
The idea coming out of Watson’s Barbershop was to create a showcase competition for all barbers, allowing only the quality of their lines and the smoothness of their fades to set them apart.
So, Lawrence Magazine signed up as the event’s lead sponsor and financial backer, with assistance from the city’s tourism office, eXplore Lawrence. Other businesses and individuals stepped up with support. But from the beginning and to the end, the Cuttin’ It Up competition came fully under the direction of the trio from Watson’s, and more specifically from Jackson, who happened to be a barber with the perfect background for pulling off an event with only three months to organize.
Jermaine “Gametime” Jackson was born in Kansas City, Kansas, and moved back and forth between Kansas City and Lawrence during his childhood. He also was, by age 12, the family’s official
barber. At gatherings and holidays, he would pull out his clippers and trim anyone who needed it or planned on it as part of the family ritual. He continued being the de facto barber for all those around him when he joined the Air Force.
After receiving his discharge in 1998, Jackson took a civilian job on a base in Misawa, Japan, where he organized entertainment for the troops and continued to cut hair. By 2003, he was back in Lawrence briefly, before heading up to Lincoln, Nebraska, to finish his degree in criminal justice, cut hair, and then enroll in barber college.
Jackson says that though he had been cutting hair all of his life, the school was still a transformation—and a lot of that was due to the dynamic force of Ann Casement, his mentor.
“She changed my life,” says Jackson. “She’s a wonderful person. She opened my eyes to a lot more. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe in myself, but she had me digging deep for more, to expand, instead of being just one-track minded to just cut hair. She had me doing things like roller sets. I had this little old White lady who came in every Friday for me to roller-set and shampoo her hair, and I used to think I was just too big and too cool to do that.”
Years later, it’s a connection that Jackson maintains through phone calls and check-ins.
After graduating from barber school and cutting hair for a year, Jackson returned to classes, but this time as a teacher
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in Omaha. From there, he worked at shops in Denver and Leavenworth and received recognition from the Lawrence branch of the NAACP for giving free haircuts to school kids whose parents couldn’t afford them. He moved to Phoenix briefly before returning to Lawrence in November 2019 to take care of a family member.
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He traveled light, but he carried his clippers.
“Well, the military prepared me for that, so I was always ready to move,” Jackson says with a laugh.
When he returned to Lawrence, the barbershop scene was changing, and he had to choose where to place his chair. For a while he was independent, then he went to a shop on Iowa Street, and then one day—that day in late May of 2020—he saw the news about the murder of George Floyd. Shortly afterward, he contacted Marty Watson, the owner of Watson’s Barbershop, and moved under the Watson’s roof.
“Me and Marty had been talking about merging, but after that [Floyd’s murder] we felt we needed to show these young brothers unity,” Jackson says.
When Jackson began organizing the city’s first barbershop competition, he had the support of Watson’s and was also able to tap numerous other connections in Lawrence, including his daughter, Bree’ann Bass, who headed up the event’s logistics. And because he had traveled so much, Jackson could call on his history as a barber and instructor. Former students lined up as judges; calls and invitations went out to colleagues in metro areas, where shops like Shawnee’s Officially Chopped barbershop and Lenexa’s Jireh Barber Shop & Nails represented a new generation of young
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professionals accustomed to cutting intricate patterns with their trimmers into all sorts of hair.
When Lawrence pastor Leo Barbee stepped to the front of the stage to give the event’s invocation, some 300 people had gathered.
“I was hoping we would have at least 50 people show up and support the barbers,” Jackson says. “But I was overwhelmed by the response.”
It’s all hype—all excitement.
As DJ Biz lowers the music, MC Bryon Myrick counts down the start of the first competition category—the bald fade—and two rows of barbers on a raised platform begin cutting and trimming against the clock.
Off to the side, Tracy Amyx—barber and owner of Hometown Cuts in Eudora—and Jay Amyx—barber and owner of Downtown Barbershop in Lawrence—are watching their colleagues at work.
“These types of events definitely help the barbershop culture,” Jay Amyx says. “Barbers had drawn away from one another, but lately this underground society has made a way to bring us back in culturally and community-wise.”
Colter says competitions like this show how barbers are masters of their tools and highlight the importance of fundamentals such as a sharp line that is the basis for all cuts. They also bring exposure to regional trends that are emerging and becoming the new standard: “You need the networking and the interaction because trends change, tools changes, techniques change and styles change.”
Byron Bolden, a barber from Lee’s Summit and one of the event judges, agrees with that assessment.
“As barbers, we’re not often able to be around our peers because they’re barbering the same time we’re barbering, all trying to make a living,” he notes. “This type of event is good to showcase talent, see other barbers, vendors, new tools, and different cuts.”
One area where barbers have crossed paths over the past years is social media.
Amyx notes that a lot of the barbershop revival and trendsetting comes from men following trims on Instagram and becoming more willing to pay higher prices for sculpted cuts and precision trimming.
“Guys are paying more attention to their appearance,” Amyx continues, “and are more comfortable allowing themselves luxuries like this.”
But Jackson notes social media haircuts might not always represent reality.
“A lot of that Instagram stuff is not realistic,” he cautions. “They doctor and filter out.”
To find what’s really what—you have to compete live.
Back on stage, the competing barbers are racing through their cuts and designs, some with stoic faces and others almost dancing to music.
One of those is Fred Dantzler, who wears oversized headphones and a white towel wrapped around his head—it’s an intense look, but it works as he takes the prize for Best
Traditional Cut back to his home shop, Officially Chopped Barber Shop in Shawnee.
“This type of competition makes you have a different respect for the game, seeing how versatile some of the people are and seeing some of the skill sets that other people bring to the table,” he says. “It’s always fun to mix it up with guys you don’t know and let them showcase their skills—and you get to do the same.”
But it isn’t all guys, not entirely. And if there is one barrier left in the barber shops, it might be that women barbers still have to overcome some skepticism.
Among the 20 barbers competing at Cuttin’ It Up, only two were women.
One of those, Mikaela “Mikki the Barber” Perez came to the event from her shop, Crisp Cuts on Main Street in Kansas City.
“A lot of men don’t want to come to a woman barber. They say they have never been to a woman barber, never been cut by a woman and don’t want to start today,” she notes. “So this type of competition allows me to be out here and showcase my work, and show that the women in this industry are just as good, if not better, than men.”
That belief is shared by Jackson, who acknowledges there is still a stigma against women barbers among men, but that a good woman barber can easily convince people when her talent is showcased—at a competition or a shop. He relates a story about a former female student he had who was dismissed by all the other men—until they saw her knock out an amazing cut in a short time.
“That one day, she was in the zone and everyone saw it,” Jackson recalls. “After that, all the brothers started coming to her.”
For Josh Strong, the overall winner of the event, the community of barbers willing to mentor one another and acknowledge and respect talent among all—men, women, Black, White, and all races—is something that is part of his life.
He grew up very close to his grandmother, Mary Ann Strong, a former missile assembly worker at the Sunflower Ammunition Plant, a guitarist and country band singer, and the owner of the Guys and Dolls hair shop in the 2400 block of Iowa Street.
“She did both men and women’s hair,” Strong says, “and she meant the world to me.”
Strong kept in close contact with his grandma after she lost her husband and retired. Strong returned to be near her in Vinland as he worked in Osawatomie and at Rex’s Stadium Barbershop in Lawrence. Mary Ann was with him in November 2019, when he bought his own shop, FadeStrong, in Paola.
Josh’s grandmother passed away in November 2021, and he’s sure she would have been proud to have seen him win. But her influence and her connections are still with him.
For instance, he heard about the Lawrence competition from his grandmother’s former business partner, Jan Kraus, who sent him information about it. Strong almost forgot to register and compete,
but then he got a call directly from the man himself, Jackson, who— strangely enough—had also been an influential figure in his life.
“When Jermaine moved to Arizona, he sent me some of his overflow customers, and we’ve stayed in touch since then,” says Strong. “I’ve met a lot of barbers [tonight] who I have looked up to and followed and aspired to be like. I had never even met Jermaine in person, but he sent me tons of customers, and not a lot of people do that.”
“I did,” confirms Jackson. “One of my clients told me about Josh and I said, ‘If you go to him and like him, then I’ll tell people to go to him.’” Years later, Jackson smiles at the thought of the upand-coming young barber he once helped out winning his city’s inaugural competition.
“I’m glad he won it—it shows diversity,” Jackson laughs. “A White dude, from Paola came to Lawrence, Kansas, and killed all these barbers from everywhere!”
But Strong might have to defend his title sooner rather than later. Jackson is already planning the second round of Cuttin’ It Up, with plans to make it bigger in scope, with celebrity demonstration haircuts, classes and more.
Also, Watson’s barbers say they are jumping into the competition next year.“We were trying to be good hosts,” Nelson says. “Those cats who competed this year could cut, but next year W-B [Watson’s Barbershop] is going to win it!”
Additional editing and consultation on this article was provided by Melinda Briscoe.
Artist Mary Anne Jordan creates textiles and fibers rooted in tradition and defiance
Story by Darin M. White
In describing her artwork of textile and fiber, Mary Anne Jordan points to cumulative lifelong influences that affect every step of the practical process guiding each new segment of each new creation.
“Each day we make decisions, large and small. Likewise, each work results from the questions posed, the decisions made, and the process of making,” Jordan says. “I organize shapes and patterns by cutting, piecing, painting, dyeing, and composing. The layering and juxtaposition of shapes and color on fabric allow personal narratives to emerge … to build the work while making and adjusting ideas and decisions at each step—the planned and the happenstance.”
Jordan’s own artistic narrative began as a child surrounded by creative energy at her home in Toledo, where her father owned a business specializing in letterpress print, interior design and contract furniture, and her mother served as a docent at Toledo Museum of Art for nearly three decades. Both Jordan’s mother and grandmother spent numerous hours working with her on artistic projects.
The young artist took classes at the Toledo Museum of Art beginning in elementary school and continued art lessons through high school, where she could work after hours in the studio and learn from a number of full-time art instructors. Attending the University of Michigan, Jordan focused on fiber and textiles while exploring other art forms in an undergraduate art program she recalls as “vibrant.” She continued her work in fiber and textiles at the prestigious Cranbrook Academy of Art for her MFA. For the past 36 years, she has been part of the Lawrence community and a University of Kansas fibers professor.
Jordan says her role as a teaching professor has allowed her to learn new techniques and processes as well as to experiment with materials in preparation for course lessons. Her lectures often integrate new ideas and techniques she has learned as a way to help inspire students who, in turn, often provide comments that cause Jordan to reflect on her art. “Teaching,” she notes, “is an important way of learning.”
Beyond the classroom, Jordan’s fiber creations are often influenced by current events, popular culture, home life, nature, or textile traditions. She will take one or more of these inspirations to create work that she identifies through three general categories: flags, rags, and signs.
“Flags,” she explains, are fabric patterns that “show allegiance, identity, and belonging to place.” These are often works with cultural or political messages, sometimes subtle, that are literally woven into the creation.
Jordan defines the “rags” category as textiles for daily life such as clothing, linens, curtains, as well as items “that may be torn, used, stained, repaired” or otherwise bear the imprints of practical use. “These are references that I turn to constantly in my work,” Jordan notes.
The “signs” category is a separate group of work that can be either part of the flags or rags series, but incorporates several ideas into its creation, coloring, or texture. Jordan describes them as “graphic warnings made with soft/pliable materials of fabrics and thread.”
In 2022, Jordan received a grant from the Elizabeth Schultz Environmental Fund/Douglas County Community Foundation to help establish a natural dye plant garden at the University of Kansas Field Station. Established and growing, the garden is just a few minutes north of Lawrence, near the Lawrence Airport, and is open to the public. It is part of a larger acreage that features medicinal and native plants, a food-donation garden, research plots and even beehives kept by the KU Beekeeping Club.
Jordan has also been recently working with natural dye processes in her work. Because of the nature of the pigments, these new colors can affect the look of a final piece in how they absorb into the fabric and reflect light.
How a dye interacts with cloth is also a consideration for the “marks” that are a signature part of Jordan’s creations. These marks are events—most often deliberately allowed—in the process of creation. The dyes are allowed to flow, bleed, weep
onto the cloth to produce drip marks, stains or blemishes that are evidence of a human creator’s interaction with the material. These dye marks often go hand-in-hand with other marks, such as an intentionally crooked seam or a frayed edge—all testimonies to the process of artistic creation by an individual.
Jordan’s interest in the use of natural dyes for marks and colorings throughout the cloth aligns with her explorations of reusing, recycling and upcycling that form the body of her work, with mended cloth, stained cloth, worn cloth, and repurposed cloth each having a different effect on the process and result of creation. “The history of the cloth will also play an important role in the finished work,” Jordan says.
But one approach will likely remain the same. Through all of her projects, Jordan creates a dialogue between traditional craft and contemporary approach. She describes this interaction as creating works that reflect “issues of domesticity and everyday life” while also carrying “a sense of defiance” through the parameters of the art form. This combination of heritage craft and thought-provoking imagery continues to guide the questions and interests behind her process and most recent creations—new works overlapping the planned and happenstance aspects of Jordan’s artistic talent.
42.75 inches by 84 inches; hand-dyed, machine-quilted cotton.
2017
Created as part of Mary Anne Jordan’s “Flags” series, Black Box Flag is an imposing cotton weaving more than 7 feet long and 3½ feet tall. The powerful black-and-white pattern alludes to the black-and-white pattern American flag sometimes displayed on military uniforms, but here the field that would contain 50 stars is expanded to four boxes and leaves half of the portion devoid of stars. Instead, there is a checkerboard pattern with flame-like symbols seeming to engulf the design. A faint, uneasy light aqua blue can be seen in the white flames and just above the bottom of the diagonal white box. The horizontal stripes only reach half of the flag, dividing it into two, while the black stripes bleed out into the white stripes in little fingerlings, drops, splatters, and maybe even mini-Rorschach ink blots. The trim edge on the right and bottom of the flag reveals strands of yellow and black stripes reminding us of symbols for danger or caution. Taken together, these allusions and manipulations of familiar patterns and colors release a powerful energy, driven by a visual separation of the work, forcing your eye up or down and right or left, but never allowing your gaze to rest comfortably on a unity of elements.
103 inches by 43 inches; handdyed, machine-quilted cotton 2012
Warning Sign, from the “Signs” series, is a vertical work dominated by the black and yellow diagonal stripes across over half of the work and by a white, outlined X in the top square. That X evokes questions: What type of X is this? Is it a don’t-go-here type of X? If so, that would go along with the yellow and black stripes reminiscent of a police barricade tape. Or is it an X-marksthe-spot type of X that seems to draw us in or warn us away from something? And if so, what is under that X? The sheer size of this piece, 103 inches in length, allows us to appreciate it from a distance. As we begin to approach it, the lines appear fairly graphic and straight, but, coming closer, we see the design’s handmade marks, how white lines are used to create the X, and how black paint is applied over very clean, machined quilt stitches in red and cream. Whatever the X is calling our attention to, it is not one thing, but a combination of several layers and aspects of fabric and texture.
Jordan describes them [the “signs” category] as “graphic warnings made with soft/ pliable materials of fabrics and thread.”
43.4 inches by 125 inches; hand-dyed, machinequilted cotton
2019
Were the warning signs too late? Part of the “Rags” series, the dyed cloth piece Melt Down includes three quilt squares forming a 125-inch-long textile. Each section seems to set its own tone. The left one features horizontal black stripes bleeding blue dye into the alternating white stripes and is offset with a variegated pattern of elongated white stitching. In the right block, a white diamond pattern is stitched over a white-andblack ink blot background, mostly visible when the black pattern is stitched over. Tiny fractal-like ink patterns break out from the edges of the dye forms, creating the sensation of inspecting microbial objects through a microscope. The dramatic center panel is one or two large black ink blobs radiating blue and covering what is mostly a white background with a hash-shaped dark quilt pattern. Little bits of the background emerge from the aquatic image and peek from behind the blue, which mostly surrounds the dark. This pattern suggests the idea of a slow-motion plunge into a liquid underland. All of the work is framed around the trip in a variety of long lengths of solid gray, indigo, black and white checkerboard pattern, as well as black and white stripes, with lighter blues and reddish oranges.
Jordan defines the “rags” category as textiles for daily life such as clothing, linens, curtains, as well as items “that may be torn, used, stained, repaired” or otherwise bear the imprints of practical use.
(a musical)
Grades 1-5 |May 30 - June 2
Winnie the Pooh is once again in search of honey. Along the way, he meets his pals, Tigger, Piglet, Rabbit and Owl, but soon discovers that Christopher Robin has been captured! As they prepare for a rescue operation, the animals learn about teamwork, friendship and, of course...sharing snacks.
(a musical)
Grades 1-5 |June 19- 30
"Shakespeare Rocks!" is a fresh, funny and up to date look at the life and times of William Shakespeare, with a cast of hilarious historical characters, amusing glimpses into some of his works and how he came 'To Be'.
The Musical
Grades 6-8 | July 17- 28 | performance July 28
Laugh your socks off in this fairy-tale pop musical with eclectic styles! The Emperor of Glump has become a clothes-aholic and has ignored his royal duties! Tailors Wart and Hog appear on the scene and play up to the King’s vanity, all the while planning to fleece the Emperor and make off with the royal fortune.
Day Camps for Grades 1 - 5
SOTI’s are designed to take advantage of your child’s time off from school to flex their brain muscles in a different and entertaining way — through acting exercises, costume creation, and prop-making, endless possibilities await.
APRIL 14
Party On at the Ugly Bug Ball!
APRIL 17
Hogwarts Wannabes Wanted!
Royal Declarations (a princess play)
Grades 1-5 | July 31 - August 4
Two royal declarations keep two kingdoms, separated by a mountain and valley, divided and very different. Will the royal princess/princes from each kingdom, find a way to bring balance to both lands? Or will they need the help of Mother Nature and her friends?
Living Sovereignty: Sustaining Indigenous Autonomy in ‘Indian Territory’ Kansas
Ongoing–April 30
785.841.4109 | watkinsmuseum.org
Watkins Museum of History hosts an exhibition on the Indigenous tribes’ and nations’ struggle to maintain and assert sovereignty in the colonized lands in and around Kansas.
Lawrence Arts Center Benefit Art Auction
March 10–April 8 | lawrenceartscenter.org
The annual auction featuring work of community artists to benefit the Lawrence Arts Center. Online bidding opens on March 10 as the gallery show opens, and the auction concludes with in-person bidding on April 8 at the Lawrence Arts Center.
St. Patrick’s Day Parade
March 17 | lawrencestpatricksdayparade.com
This year, Lawrence’s biggest, greenest charity parade benefits Cantemos Youth Chorale, O’Connell Children’s Shelter, and the Sunrise Project. Downtown parade begins at 1 p.m.
The Quilts of Rose Kretsinger
March 23 | spencerart.ku.edu
Spencer Museum of Art curator Susan Earle presents a lecture and showing of the museum’s collection of quilts by Emporia artist Rose Kretsinger. This is the first time in 10 years that her collection has been taken from holding for display.
Michael Dease
March 28 | lied.ku.edu
Jazz trombonist Michael Dease performs with the KU Jazz Ensemble. Winner of numerous Grammy awards and selected as Trombonist of the Year by DownBeat magazine, Dease brings speeding, sharp notes with a punch.
Trans Insurgency, Black Radicality: Abolitionist Endeavors
March 30 | hallcenter.ku.edu
The Hall Center for the Humanities presents a lecture by philosopher and writer Marquis Bey that examines the concepts of “Black” and “trans” against conditions of colonization, White supremacy, and gender binary constructions of daily life.
For more listings of upcoming events in Lawrence, go online to explorelawrence.com/events
Take 6
March 31 | lied.ku.edu
Grammy Award–winning a cappella group performs at the Lied Center. Sample their remix of “Sailing” and then “One” to appreciate their range and talent.
Martha Redbone
April 7 | lied.ku.edu
With a mix of folk, roots, and gospel, singersongwriter Martha Redbone creates music defining a contemporary sound with Native, Black and Appalachian influences. See some of her online recordings and snatch up several tickets.
Lawrence Farmers Market
April 8 | lawrencefarmersmarket.org
Summer Saturday market season opens for state’s oldest continually operating farmers market.
KU Powwow and Indigenous Culture Festival
April 8 | fnsapowwow.ku.edu
Free and open performances beginning at 11 a.m. to celebrate First Nations cultures represented at the University of Kansas and in the Lawrence community
Kansas Relays
April 13–15 | kuathletics.com
One of the university’s oldest sporting traditions returns to Lawrence for the first time since 2019 for its 100-year anniversary.
Story Slam
April 14 | lawrenceartscenter.org
Lawrence Arts Center hosts monthly gathering of themed story performances. This month’s theme: Saved.
Kansas Music Hall of Fame 2023
Induction Ceremony
April 15 | libertyhalllive.net
Lawrence band Get Smart! and a host of other musicians and events such as the Walnut Valley Music Festival join the state’s Hall of Fame inductees at a ceremony and concert from the Liberty Hall stage.
If the weather is good, thousands are expected to gather on Massachusetts Street for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Photograph by Fally Afani.April 20 | lawrenceks.org/earth-day Events are still being determined for the 2023 observance. Traditionally, the city and organizations have hosted an annual parade, celebration and educational booths honoring ecology, land-stewardship and the fight to address the climate crisis.
Jacqueline Woodson
April 20 | lplks.org
The Lawrence Public Library hosts an evening with New York Times bestselling author and MacArthur Fellow Jacqueline Woodson. A prolific YA author, Woodson has served as the Library of Congress’ National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and as the Young People’s Poet Laureate.
Wakarusa Wetlands Celebration
April 22 | lplks.org
Dr. Daniel Wildcat is joined by Lawrence authors and artists for a discussion of how the land and natural preserves such as the Haskell wetlands inspire and guide their work. The public is invited to join the gathering at the Medicine Wheel of Haskell Indian Nations University. The event is organized by Haskell Indian Nations University, the Lawrence Public Library and Raven Bookstore. Rain date April 29.
A Walk in the Woods
April 22 | lawrenceorchestra.org
The Lawrence Chamber Orchestra features works by Vivaldi, Beethoven, Sibelius, and Sondheim in an Earth Day concert.
April 25 | hallcenter.ku.edu
Kansas native, KU grad, and Pulitzer Prize finalist Chloé Cooper Jones presents stories and thoughts behind her work about art, beauty, disability and love.
Silent Sky
April 14–16, 20–23
785.843.7469 | theatrelawrence.com
Lawrence Theatre presents a play about pioneering astronomer Henrietta Leavitt and the struggle for women scientists and scholars in America of the early 20th century.
Cabaret
April 20–30 (various dates) | kutheatre.com
KU Theatre stages the musical production that won multiple Tony Awards with its depiction of The Kit Kat Klub in Weimar Germany.
Beginner Paddle on the Kaw
April 26 | kansasriver.org
The Friends of the Kaw leads a paddle trip for beginners from Eudora to DeSoto. Equipment comes with the instructions.
Slow Art
April 30 | spencerart.ku.edu
The Spencer Museum of Art holds a Sunday session studying and discussing one work from the collection. For this day, the focus is on Sam-Ilus’ 2013 painting with allusions to global politics and resource management, Le partage du gateau (Dividing the Cake).
Vanessa Thomas
May 5 | lied.ku.edu
Lawrence resident and acclaimed vocalist for her tremendous vocal range and mastery of opera, jazz, musical numbers and more, Vanessa Thomas performs at the Lied Center.
Haskell Indian Nations University Commencement
May 12 | Haskell.edu
Graduation ceremonies and community inter-tribal powwow; public welcome.
University of Kansas Commencement
May 14 | ku.edu
Public graduation ceremony and walking down The Hill.
Art Tougeau
May 26–27 | arttougeau.org
Lawrence’s annual parade of art on wheels. Pre-parade party on May 26 with Downtown parade on May 28.
Lawrence Busker Festival
May 26–29 | lawrencebuskerfest.com
One of Lawrence’s largest events with children’s workshops, the Buskerball and a weekend full of street performances.
The Jayhawk Club has a wide-range of membership options for people of all ages. From our most popular Golf membership, which includes full access to the 18-hole championship golf course, to our Social membership, where you can enjoy the family-friendly, resort-style pool and exciting social calendar with events scheduled throughout the year; The Jayhawk Club has something for everyone.
(785) 842-2929
info@thejayhawkclub.com
1809 Birde Way Lawrence, KS 66047
