Like seemingly every other town, Topeka, Kansas has its own unique history. The town’s roots can be traced to it being a site for ferries to transport wagons heading west across the Kansas River. The town was founded in 1854 and given a Native American name – thought to mean something along the lines of “a good place to grow potatoes.”

Topeka became the capital of Kansas in 1866. It’s practically a right of passage for every elementary school student across the state of Kansas to file onto a bus and make the trek to their state’s capitol building. Most will leave yawning, perhaps never to return again.

It is not uncommon for people to think of Topeka as a soul-crushing, decrepit and crime ridden place – if they think of it at all. There may be some truth to these criticisms, as even the city’s natives are often found taking refuge in visits to more vibrant towns like Lawrence and Kansas City, but Topeka has some true gems if you know where to look.

Arts

North Topeka, affectionately called NOTO, was a declining part of town until it was revitalized as an Arts District in 2011. Now the district is home to local businesses instead of bars. On the first Friday of every month NOTO hosts the Artwalk, which routinely draws over 3,000 people to its murals, antiques and boutiques.

Truckhenge, arguably Topeka’s best art gallery, is mostly marketed by word of mouth and is home to the most interesting tour known to man. Visitors are encouraged to personally call the artist, Ron Lessman, who created his own Stonehenge out of trucks the county ordered him to pick up – a message he took literally. Lessman’s various sculptures convey messages such as “Rome Didn’t Kill Jesus Bureaucrats Did” and “Freedum Isn’t Lost.”

Historical Sights

No visit to Topeka would be complete without a tour of its crown jewel – the Kansas State Capitol. Recent restoration has returned the building’s dome to its original copper finish, and visitors have the opportunity to climb the 296 steps to the top. The exercise is worth stepping outside and enjoying a breathtaking aerial view of the city.

The Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site commemorates the 1954 Supreme Court decision that ended racial segregation in public schools. The museum is located at Monroe Elementary School – a formerly segregated elementary school where the case partly originated.

Food

Though a little rough around the edges, The Pad is a great place to grab a cheap burger. The space-themed restaurant also boasts the best onion rings in town. The Pad has been locally owned since 1961 and quickly established itself as a Topeka staple.

Topeka isn’t known for fine dining, but Chez Yasu is a must-eat for those seeking a more upscale setting. The French restaurant is both delicious, charming and one of the few places brave enough to serve seafood besides Red Lobster.

The Pennant is fairly new to Topeka, but is already a trendy spot thanks to their classic arcade games and extravagant milkshakes. I recommend permanently clogging your arteries with the $12 Over the Rainbow shake that contains “Vanilla, Chocolate, or Strawberry ice-cream piled into a waffle cone with coconut cotton candy, sprinkles, and whipped cream,” according to The Pennant’s menu.

Rees Fruit Farm is family owned and famous for their cider donuts and slushes. Visitors can actually see the produce growing behind the store.

Hazel Hill is located in the heart of downtown and is the best place to go if you’re craving something sweet. While the chocolatier has classic caramel apples and dipped pretzels, my personal favorites are the “things” – really just different flavors of cake pops without the stick.

Attractions

One of the places that makes me glad to be a Topekan is the Equality House. Painted in the rainbow colors of the gay pride flag, the house is directly across the street from the Westboro Baptist Church, an anti-LGBT hate group famous for picketing soldiers’ funerals. Along with the Transgender House, the Equality house serves as a visible reminder of Topeka’s support for these communities in spite of Westboro’s actions.

Yes, Topeka is home to great places like the Kansas History and Combat Air Museums, but they pale in comparison to the Evel Knievel Museum. Relive the iconic daredevil’s extreme feats, view his authentic bikes and leathers and experience a jump for yourself on the 4D simulator.

Topeka, Kansas is thoroughly cemented in the collective mind as a mediocre Midwestern town, but it is a truly unique place filled with equally unique people.

My personal suggestion is to pay Topeka a visit if you haven’t already, and give it a second chance if you have. It’s only an hour and a half from Liberty. Look beyond the stereotype and, heeding Robert Frost’s advice, take the road less traveled by.

Internationally, most marches took place Jan. 20, 2018, on the anniversary of the original march. The largest crowds in the United States were in New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles with 200 thousand, 300 thousand and 600 thousand attendees, respectively. Thousands of protesters also showed up in hundreds of other cities.

The major theme of the march was “Power to the Polls” in an attempt to have more women in office and to support more women in exercising their right to vote. In addition to the primary gender equality message, the Women’s March also protested racial inequality, lack of LGBTQIA rights, Trump’s immigration reform, the tax policy, limited reproductive rights and a variety of other hot-button issues. President Trump himself tweeted his support of the march despite organizers’ statements about the march’s main goal being protesting him.

Several William Jewell College students attended either this year’s or last year’s marches. Erin Melton, senior Oxbridge Literature and Theory major, attended this year’s march in Topeka, Kan. Jan. 21.

“I was particularly pleased that this year’s theme—Power to the Polls—seemed to be aiming to fix the non-inclusiveness of the original march movement. The speakers were almost exclusively women of color, and they were all either running for or holding office,” Melton said.

She was generally pleased with this year’s march but commented that the organization was lacking. There was no unified, major march in Kansas City itself this year, so the closest one was in Topeka. However, a small march was organized in Kansas City the night before it was held with little advertisement. Similar organizational issues seemed prevalent around the country.

Students who attended marches last year included Karen Tolbert, sophomore economics major, Elliott Yoakum, sophomore Oxbridge Literature and Theory major, and Seki Anderson senior biochemistry and Applied Critical Thought and Inquiry major. All three discussed the successes of the 2017 march as a reactionary response to the inauguration and an immediate option for involvement. The initial march received criticism but is largely regarded as a success because of the massive participation with over five million in attendance across the United States. Anderson said that the general feel of last year’s march was more relaxed than a typical protest because it was largely a display of solidarity against the misogyny at the 2016 campaign.

“The march’s reminder that you have a voice is important,” said Anderson. “Last year was more of a reaction to [the] November [presidential election]. At the time, there wasn’t more action that could have been taken, and attending the march was a concrete way to take action.”

They criticized the 2018 march for its few nearby locations, poor planning, lack of intersectionality, transphobia and march co-opting by the political system.  

Tolbert focused on problems regarding the march appealing only to middle-class white women, with lack of substantial LGBTQIA, racially diverse and politically diverse voices. Specifically, the “pussy hats” popularized at the first march are criticized as transphobic and their traditionally pink color as racist. Regardless, the hats were again a staple for marchers, leaving many feeling the march missed a chance to restructure for more inclusivity in its second year.

Anderson and Yoakum further discussed the problematic “white feminist” vibe of the march, identifying the inability of many to attend the march for financial, safety and geographical reasons. Yoakum specifically discussed the unlikelihood that a march aiming to redirect the political establishment would make significant change in societal structures the march initially protested.

“[It] would have been nice to see more mechanisms for accountability, making sure people have scripts to call representatives and a way to look up districts and more info about other gatherings about lobbying or other things like that. A lot of people went to the Women’s March and that counted for civic liberal duty, but it wasn’t actually an action,” Yoakum said.

Another criticism voiced by Tolbert, Anderson and Yoakum was the march’s failure to incorporate the #MeToo movement fully into their message. The political theme of the march was encouraged insofar as it encouraged women to have a sustained voice in politics, but it also appeared to be the Democratic Party co-opting the message of the march, which could have emphasized #MeToo more otherwise.

Tolbert specifically criticized the movement’s general inability to adapt to such movements or positions after the march’s initial reactionary nature. She described the march as “dead in the water.”

“The march started as potentially leftist reactionary movement, but [the movement is] unable to move message or positions, unable to adapt abortion stance, unable to adapt #MeToo medicare for all, DACA, tax cuts or [other relevant movements],” Tolbert said.

Generally, the 2018 march was less successful and received less press than the 2017 march, but proponents of the cause emphasize the need for any action to keep the movement alive, despite its shortcomings.

Photos courtesy of Erin Melton. 

A previous version of this article was published with a mistake.