When asked about his favorite part of being the chef at FIJI, Painter answered simply.

“Seeing the smiles on their faces because they love the food. My favorite part will always be their smiles.”

The bond Painter has with the men of FIJI is very clear. In the middle of the interview, many boys stopped by to ask Painter how he was doing, what was for dinner and if he needed any assistance.

When asked what FIJI means to him, Painter said, “They’re my kids, you know? When you have kids you love them unconditionally.”

Painter decided to come to Jewell after many years of being a chef in restaurants and hotels because he was tired of the corporate side of his jobs. Painter became a chef at a young age and has a passion for preparing food.

“I love cooking the meals for mom’s day and the graduate dinner. Getting to speak with the parents and getting to know them really makes me happy. The graduate dinner is great because it’s nice getting to hear the alumni’s stories of their time at Jewell.”

On campus, it’s no secret that Painter makes a great meal. His favorite meal to prepare is breakfast, which is widely known for the delicious cinnamon rolls.

“The secret to the cinnamon rolls is making the first bite taste like the last bite because the inside is the best part.”

When Painter is not in the FIIJ kitchen he spends time going out with his friends to get coffee and playing piano. If you are ever at the FIJI house during the week, there’s a chance you’ll be lucky enough to see him play. Painter also works as an Uber driver in his free time. 

“I probably talk too much to my riders, but I’m a social guy, it’s hard not to.”

Painter would go out of his way for everyone in FIJI, doing his best to take care of all of them as much as he can.

When asked about what was important to him Painter took some time to really think about it. After a couple of minutes he gave a simple, yet powerful, response.

“Being here for as long as I can and living right.”  

“Joanne”, the title song, pulls at our heart strings. Written about Gaga’s late aunt, who tragically fell ill and passed away, “Joanne” completely covers every emotion of not wanting to let a family member go who has passed on.

“Every part of my aching art/ needs you more/ than the angels do” she sings, and everyone who has ever lost someone close to them clings to those words and sheds a tear.

“A-yo” is a perfect song to play loudly in a car full of your best friends, while “John Wayne” has a country/rock vibe, all while being very typical for Gaga in the content. “Come to mama” is a warning to all of us to be kinder to each other as Lady Gaga sings, “stop throwin’ stones at your sisters and brothers,” a desperate plea from Gaga to be more considerate of each other. “Hey Girl,” a duet with Florence Welch, shares with us the story of two women encouraging each other, not tearing each other down. I’d argue that this song is the new feminist anthem, because why should women tear each other down when women could support, encourage and build each other up?

“Angel Down” is very powerful for many reasons. The vocals are one thing, but the biggest reason is the story and message behind the lyrics. During an interview with “Beats 1,” Gaga explained that this song was heavily inspired by the shooting of Trayvon Martin, a young unarmed African-American teenager who was shot and killed on the street in his neighborhood in Florida. Gaga acknowledged the fact that as she is a white woman of privilege, she can’t really relate to what the African-American community is going through because she has never lived it. She does say how she feels she can’t just say nothing about all of this, especially with the state the country is currently in. She states how she was overwhelmed by how people just stand around and do nothing while innocent people are being shot in the street.

“Grigio Girls” is my favorite song on the whole album. This song is upbeat, relaxing and serious all at the same time. While being one of the more personal songs on the album, Gaga opens up to us about her friend Sonja who is battling cancer. It’s a very beautiful song that’s very catchy and infectious.

Full of vulnerability and freedom, but most of all love. This is her most stripped-down album to date, stepping away from the manufactured pop music expected of her and really gives her fans a taste of her folk/rock/country side. 4 out of 5 stars.

Cover photo courtesy of Amazon.

What is your life goal and how you will get there?

“My goal in life is to be a judge. I am very passionate about American government, specifically the American justice system. However, I am often disturbed with flaws and injustices which occur in American court rooms. People of low socio-economic standing and racial minorities often experience a tainted form of justice and I would like to positively impact this one day when I become a judge. After Jewell I hope to go to law school and then become a public defender because I think it is important that people who cannot afford lawyers still get someone who will properly represent them.”

What is your biggest fear? 

“My biggest fear is death of a loved one, because the people around me make my life extremely dope. Losing someone close to me would put me in a position I’ve never been in before, and I wouldn’t be good at handling it.”

What is your biggest struggle thus far at Jewell? 

“Starting out knowing nobody after having a really close and supportive group of friends at my high school. I grew up with these people and felt comfortable with them- so it took a while to feel comfortable here at Jewell. Luckily, I was placed with a very easy going roommate, Jacob Dice, and he was a good first friend at Jewell, who helped me meet many other people. “

What gives you hope? 

“The fact that I am extremely young and still have so much time, to work on myself and achieve the things I want to. Also, if I am really having a rough time it is nice knowing that I can always go to my family for support. I am lucky enough to have extremely supportive parents and siblings whom I can always talk to for comfort and good advice.”

Where in the world would you go if you had no limitations? 

“If I could go anywhere I would go to Jerusalem because some of the international issues that seem most urgent at this time can be experienced first-hand in this city. I am really interested in being able to empathize with different types of people, specifically those who are experiencing hardship because of international policy. Since I am an American and our country has the potential to influence positive change in the feuding region, I would love the opportunity to seek to really understand what the people of this region are going through. Also, Jerusalem has a lot of historical significance and I would love to see the landmarks that are significant to three of the most widely practiced religions globally.”

Who are some people that you relate to and admire?

“I would pick Leslie Knope because her constant positivity and persistence inspires me. I would also pick FDR because he is my favorite president. He steered our nation in a great direction at a very difficult time. I would also request that he bring his dog, Fala, because all dogs are fantastic, especially presidential dogs. My third pick is Theodore from “Alvin and the Chipmunks” simply because he just gets me.”

In our culture, hockey is often very overlooked and overshadowed by baseball, football and soccer. I grew up watching hockey, and there isn’t a single person in my family who doesn’t. So maybe I am a little biased when I say hockey is the greatest sport to ever be played and no sport will ever surpass it. But my time here at William Jewell College has shown me one thing. An extremely small percentage of our student body watches hockey. Some people have never even been exposed to hockey. Since college is about trying new things and stepping out of your comfort zone, you should all try to watch a little more hockey.

The National Football League has a solid 11 minutes (on average) of playing time per game. Yes, those 11 minutes are hard-hitting and sometimes even jaw-dropping, but at the end of the day the action seems very short-lived. It is not that way in hockey. The play is constantly back-and-forth, with the clock rarely stopping. The players are constantly moving because they’re skating. No one is standing around in center field waiting for something to happen or crouched in a huddle drawing up plays. There’s no time for that in hockey, it all moves too quickly to waste any time. The players are too busy doing everything possible to defeat the opposing team.

So constantly moving play isn’t enough to convince you to give it a shot? Would you give hockey a shot if I told you the players fight on a nightly basis? And these aren’t just yelling matches mixed with a little shoving, these are REAL brawls. Helmets and teeth are lost. Blood is shed. Sure, it does nothing to affect the score of the game, but they’re so much fun to watch. Tell me you wouldn’t pay attention to more sporting events if they regularly featured men punching each other in the face. Exactly.

Brutality isn’t your cup of tea? Hockey has one thing everyone can enjoy: goals. Thanks to players like Alexander Ovechkin and Patrick Kane, goals are certainly not absent from the games. There’s very rarely a time in hockey when someone isn’t scoring a goal. My point is, hockey isn’t all violence, those really skilled scorers can really shock us with their ability to put the puck in the net.

How many times are “rivalries” touted as selling points in sports by different leagues? Those “rivalries” very rarely live up to the hype of it all. Hockey, unlike those other sports, takes rivalries very seriously. Flyers-Penguins, Bruins-Canadiens, Sharks-Kings and Blackhawks-Red Wings are just some of the teams with serious beef between them. This isn’t just something made up by the NHL to make a profit or taken too far by the fans; these teams genuinely despise each other. If you want to see a game between teams that can’t stand to be in the same building together, let alone play against each other, hockey is the sport for you.

Speaking of intensity, there is nothing in sports as intense as NHL playoffs. Not the Super Bowl. Not the World Series. Those don’t even come close. An NHL stadium during the playoffs is full of more raw emotion than any other arena in sports. The road to playoffs is long and hard, those men have rightfully earned their place there and the fans know it, although they may loudly disagree with who the winner is. This is when you see the real madness. The games are much faster-paced, the fans are louder, and the atmosphere is indescribable. It is the most wonderful time of the year.

I could continue on with specific reasons why more people should watch hockey, but the bottom line is that hockey is best explained if you just watch it for yourself. Hockey requires your full attention and energy, but that’s where all the fun comes from. As the season is just around the corner, I hope you all take the time to watch at least one game, you have 85ish games to choose from. Don’t waste the opportunity to try something new this school year, you never know, you might just get hooked.

Photo Courtesy of CBSSports.