SCENE THE
THE
Fall Issue 5
Nov. 16, 2018
THESCENEFP.COM
www.thescenefp.com
Taking shame out of sex See page 7
Missouri voting quirks See page 7
St. Louis Community College at Forest Park
New SGA is small but motivated
Navigating campus isn’t easy for students with disabilities
By Joshua Phelps The Scene staff
By Jason Ethridge The Scene staff
Members of the new Forest Park Student Government Association want to do what they can to make life easier for students. All of the SGA’s six members have issues that interest or concern them. Newcomer Soroda Nasiri thinks the campus needs a better space for students to “hang out” between classes. “The Highlander Lounge, a lot of times, that room is booked,” she said. “On Fridays, it’s used for the African Pride Club. It’s also used for conferences, meetings and other events.” Nasiri said Cafe East and Cafe West are always reserved, and other small lounges are in out-of-the-way places. She would like to see a large space that’s accessible to students at all times. Nasiri, 26, is a general transfer student and columnist for The Scene student newspaper. Another one of her issues is transportation. “There’s a lot of students who ride the bus,” she said. “It takes them an hour to two to get to school, go home. We pay for (transportation). It comes out of our tuition. I was thinking if we increase the fee from $1 to $2, we could partner with Uber or Lyft to provide those services.” Finally, Nasiri wants to bring awareness to what she calls a “rape culture.” She believes it exists all over the world, but she is starting her effort to change attitudes at Forest Park.
Forest Park was built in 1967, more than 20 years before the American with Disabilities Act began requiring public places to be accessible to people with disabilities. Campus buildings have elevators, automatic doors and wheelchair ramps, but navigation still can be a challenge. “There are spots that are not accessible, which you find in a lot of large campuses similar to this one,” said Kim Lackey, director of public policy and advocacy with Paraquad. “There are definitely places that have room for improvement to provide maximum accessibility.” Paraquad is a non-profit organization that works to empower people with disabilities and help them become more independent. Its headquarters is less than a block from Forest Park. At The Scene’s request, Lackey surveyed the campus recently with Christopher Worth, 40, an organizing team manager with Paraquad who has cerebral palsy. They found cramped quarters in several bathrooms; mechanical malfunctions with automatic doors in D and E towers; and non-automatic doors that are harder to open than is recommended by Paraquad. Such problems don’t prevent people with mobility issues from getting around, but they can make it more difficult and time-consuming. “I would give Forest Park a C-plus or B-minus,” Worth said, speaking of its overall accessibility.
See SGA page 6
See Disability page 3
Photo by Daniel Shular
Forest Park student Paige Karius boards a freight elevator on Nov. 7 after a long wait on the fourth floor of E Tower.
Artist makes sculptures that ‘deceive the eye’ By Daniel Schular The Scene staff Kristen Morgin’s clay sculptures must be handled with care. Otherwise, they might fall apart. That’s because the Los Angeles-based artist doesn’t fire her sculptures. She lets them dry on their own. “I had expected to fire them,” she said. “(But) the longer I had them in my studio, the more I was sort of convinced that it looked like this really fragile thing, and maybe it would be more honest if it was more fragile.” Morgin, 50, visited the Forest Park campus last week to give a lecture and lead a workshop on unfired clay sculptures in the Art Annex. She specializes in a style called “trompel’œil,” which is French for “deceive the eye.” It refers to artwork that is so realistic, images of objects look three-dimensional. Morgin’s sculptures depict everything from album covers, books and musical instruments to vehicles, toys and even cigarette packs. Many are painted.
Photo by Daniel Shular
Ceramic artist Kristen Morgin works on a piece on Oct. 25 for a demonstration in the Art Annex. “The stuff that she made, I thought that they were actually real objects, and they weren’t,” said Samantha Gilmore, 22, an
applied math major who attended the workshop. “It was pretty interesting to see the things. There were objects that I’d never
imagine (could be) made out of clay.” Morgin taught ceramics at California State University, Long Beach for 10 years before becoming a full-time artist. She participated in the third World Ceramic Biennale in Icheon, South Korea, and has displayed pieces in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the UCLA Hammer Museum and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. “We bring in visiting artists every semester,” said Forest Park ceramics professor Matthew Issacson. He invited Morgin after meeting her at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana. He had landed a fellowship to study there during a sabbatical. Morgin was the recipient of the Voulkos Visiting Artist Fellowship, a very competitive award. “Ceramics students wanted her to come (to Forest Park),” Issacson said. “Some specifically were trying to mimic the style of trompe-l’œil. Kristen is a master of trompe-l’œil, so that was an opportunity for
See Artist page 6