cole allee – The Hilltop Monitor

AFE: The Mcdonald’s Commercial: Redone

Cole Allee — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 13:00:10 +0000

The original, 2010.

The Hilltop Monitor Version, 2016.

Jewell Theatre Company takes a step forward with “Metamorphoses”

Cole Allee — Fri, 04 Dec 2015 14:00:51 +0000

First-year Danika Bryant as King Midas’ daughter. Photo by Chandler Eaton

Mary Zimmerman’s “Metamorphoses” is a live adaptation of Ovid’s epic of the same title. It was first performed in 1996 and recently put on by Jewell Theatre Company. The play is made up of a several vignettes, much like the original work, that tell the stories of classical characters such as King Midas, Orpheus and Eurydice and Eros and Psyche as well. Each vignette is a discussion of how love can affect individuals and eventually lead to a transformation of who they are.

I would like to commend all of the actors who performed in this play for their work. It was wonderful. The beauty of a play of vignettes is its ability to shift from one emotion to another in a short amount of time, and I think the actors caught on to this. Whether it was Brett Stone, junior English and political science major, who was able to capture the identity of a spoiled adolescent demigod or Molly Ingram, junior nursing major who seemed to truly understand Alcyone’s loss of Ceyx, the character work was brilliant.

The most interesting scene by far was that of the story of Erysichthon, Bruce Rash, junior international relations major. Erysichthon is a man with no god who chops down a tree that is sacred to the goddess Ceres, Kati Watts, sophomore accounting and theatre major. Ceres then sends Hunger, Danika Bryant, first-year communication major, to take control of Erysichthon. Erysichthon eventually spends all of his gold on food and even sells his own mother in order to eat more and more. In the end, Erysichthon is so overwhelmed by Hunger that he eats himself. While this was a very disturbing scene, the way Rash and Bryant portrayed their characters was incredible. Bryant looked near death and crawled around the stage like a sort of animal, using a harsh whispering voice, and Rash depicted a man who truly had lost all control. He screamed as someone who was in real pain would as the lights when down on him cutting into his own leg.

Photo by Chandler Eaton

This performance was not simply a successful show but much more. It is the first Jewell Theatre Company show directed by Dr. Chris McCoy, assistant professor of theatre and stage director for Jewell Theatre Company and is a step forward for the company. While Jewell has had a successful theatre department before, this play marks a continued progression for the company that I believe McCoy and Nathan Wyman, associate professor of theatre and producing director Jewell Theatre Company, will continue to maintain.

Jewell Theatre Company will have one other main stage show, “Godspell,” Apr 14, 15 and 16. Individuals seeking more information on the department should visit the website for Jewell Communication and Theatre. Those wanting to know more about non-main stage shows that the company will be presenting should refer to their season announcement.

Humans of Jewell

Cole Allee — Fri, 20 Nov 2015 14:00:57 +0000

Dr. Rose Reynolds, biology professor, gave this week’s 500 words. She focused on achieving goals and the luck it takes to do so.

I had to opportunity to talk to Reynolds after chapel and began the conversation by asking her how William Jewell College has helped her achieve her goals.

“One of the things that I appreciate about being at Jewell is it’s a place where people allow themselves to have goals and dream big but also focus on the small everyday interactions, so I think being in an environment where goals and creativity are really fostered helps a lot. In other universities where I’ve been certainly you have the space and the facilities and things to achieve your goals, but it can be somewhat isolating because everyone is working on their own thing and you don’t get the feeling of us all being it in together. I get that feeling from Jewell. I feel like it’s a family.”

What some people may not know is that Dr. Reynolds is married to Kenneth Reynolds, the William Jewell Bookstore Manager. Dr. Reynolds had this to say about working on the same campus as her spouse.

“Well, it’s kind of funny because some people will meet him, and so I’m the wife of the bookstore manager, and some people meet me first, and he’s the husband of the professor. So that’s kind of funny, but it’s also really nice as well. We’ve never worked at the same place before, but we’ve always worked very hard. We started having children when I was still in school, and so often our schedules were so busy and our budget was so tight that we either had to be working or taking care of the children. We didn’t really have time together, and so this is nice because we’re both working during the day and sometimes we can have lunch together, so it’s really nice to be able to see each other. It’s also lucky that we work in different buildings. You know, you want that distance.”

Englewood Community Farm becomes a “food hub” for the community

Cole Allee — Sat, 24 Oct 2015 03:07:39 +0000

It is common for churches to run, or at least be affiliated with, food pantries, but for Englewood Baptist Church in Gladstone, Missouri, a food pantry has grown into something much larger: Englewood Community Farm. The farm’s first fruit trees and berry patches were planted May 2, 2015, and it has been growing since.

Mark Buhlig, co-coordinating pastor of Englewood, says that over the last couple of years, Englewood’s food-oriented ministry has expanded from providing exclusively food to those in need to playing several different roles in the Gladstone community.

“Englewood Community Farm is a response to the basic need with which we all identify: food. Englewood Community Farm is a place for learning together about food…food production, food security and food sovereignty,” said Buhlig.

He went on to explain that people have increasingly lost touch with the land on which they live and, more specifically, the land that gives them their food. The ideal for the farm is to become a “food hub.” This term, as Buhlig explains it, breaks down into four things.

“What we dream of creating at our farm is a food hub: a hub of food production, a hub of food distributions, a hub of food information, a hub of food knowledge which will help us better understand food issues such as food security and food sovereignty,” said Buhlig.

Englewood aims to produce the best and most food as their land is capable of producing, distributing that food to as many people in need as they can and informing people about where food comes from and how to respect it as well as the land from which it grows. The distinction between information and knowledge is that of facts about food itself and facts about issues involving food, respctively. While these are the four main working goals, Buhlig sees the farm doing much more.

“We dream of a farm that produces food and opportunity…We dream of place in our community, a farm that is dedicated to helping us better understand the systems we are a part of: food systems, economic systems, social systems. And, we dream of a farm that is a platform from which to consider how such systems, as they are currently expressed, give our communities life and how these same systems drain our communities of life and health,” said Buhlig.

While its purpose is to serve the community in Gladstone, Englewood has looked outward to the greater Kansas City area in order to work with groups such as Cultivate KC, The Giving Grove and Boy Scout Troop 260 of Northcross United Methodist Church. They have also worked with Lincoln University Cooperative Extension of Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo.

“Additionally, we are in collaborative conversations with United Services Community Action Agency and faculty in the departments of biology and physics at William Jewell College,” said Buhlig.

Because of these conversations, Jewell students have gotten the opportunity to be involved with the farm. Chandler Eaton, sophomore, is one of these students and is currently interning as the farm’s community liaison.

“I focus on the city’s ordinances and policies in order to help the farm excel and achieve their goals while still coloring within the lines,” said Eaton.

Eaton sees potential in the farm and, like Buhlig, emphasizes the importance of sustainable farming to the community. The two also share the desire for the farm to positively impact as many people as possible.

“I hope it flourishes into a place where anyone can come and just pick fruit from the trees or vegetables from the garden,” said Eaton.

While he is expecting great things, Buhlig is not getting ahead of himself. He is not accepting the progress the farm has made so far as a final success and is looking forward to the challenge of expanding the farm and nurturing it through its infancy.

“It is early in the life of Englewood Community Farm. It is the spring time of our farm. Spring time is a time of new hope and new life, but new life is fragile and must be cared for,” said Buhlig.

The farm is located on Englewood Road on the grounds of Englewood. To learn more about the farm and Englewood Baptist Church, visit englewoodchurch.com.