Come see the Gay Blades in concert: Oct. 15th in Rochester, NY!

More of my articles from The Empty Closet...

re: the "Finding Your Truth" forum sponsored by MOCHA--
http://www.gayalliance.org/index.php?option=com_mojo&Itemid=114&p=3214

re: the annual Rainbow Seniors' picnic--
http://www.gayalliance.org/index.php?option=com_mojo&Itemid=114&p=3213

re: the Image Out film festival--
http://www.gayalliance.org/index.php?option=com_mojo&Itemid=114&p=3245

re: an interview with The Gay Blades--
http://www.gayalliance.org/index.php?option=com_mojo&Itemid=114&p=3243

In This Month's Empty Closet

There were two articles written by me that appeared in the August edition of The Empty Closet; please check them out!

The first is an article about this year's Pride Parade in Rochester, NY: it can be read at http://www.gayalliance.org/index.php?option=com_mojo&Itemid=114&p=3128.

The second is an article about Melange Lavonne, a homo-hop artist who is well worth listening to: http://www.gayalliance.org/index.php?option=com_mojo&Itemid=114&p=3152.

Enjoy and thanks for reading!

Visit The Empty Closet

So, in addition to working as a home health aide, I am currently writing 1-2 articles per month for The Empty Closet, a monthly newspaper for the LGBT community in the Genesee Valley in upstate NY.

My first article can be read by visiting http://www.gayalliance.org/index.php?option=com_mojo&Itemid=114&p=3095

Feel free to check it out!

Carrie Newcomer visits Manchester College

“Just when you think life can’t get any better, you find yourself in North Manchester, Indiana.”

These words were spoken with a big smile (and not so much as a drop of sarcasm) by singer/songwriter/guitarist Carrie Newcomer at the concert she gave last Thursday in Cordier Auditorium. During her visit, the students, faculty and staff of Manchester College (as well as members of the surrounding community) were gifted with her music, wisdom and guidance.

Carrie Newcomer’s visit to MC occurred on April 1st and 2nd. During this short visit, she led a workshop entitled "The Power of Story: Creative Writing for the Terrified," facilitated a discussion on vocation and faith with students in the Pathways program, gave a workshop for faculty and staff on how to incorporate what you love into what you do, spoke in several classes (including peace studies and literature classes), presented a workshop on vocation that was open to the entire campus community and gave a concert performance.

In the “Power of Story” workshop, Newcomer led writing exercises based on simple prompts that helped participants focus on the details of their memories and the present moment. This is an important practice, even for people who don’t consider themselves to be writers: “A regular practice of writing—and writing honestly and with integrity—well, it’s like a muscle you work,” she said. “And the more you practice it, the more it becomes a part of you, enriching your entire life and your interactions with other people.”

“Writing practice is a spiritual practice, and a practice at being present in our own lives,” she continued. “The worst thing is getting to the end of the day and thinking ‘Darn, I missed it.’”

Newcomer has released a total of 11 albums of intricate melodies with profoundly sincere, engaging lyrics. She self-produced her last three albums (The Geography of Light, Regulars and Refugees, and The Gathering of Spirits) at a small studio right here in Indiana.

Students who were lucky enough to have made it to her concert heard a rich variety of songs from The Geography of Light as well as several of her earlier albums. Her rhythmic plucking at her guitar strings resonated with her bluesy, emotion-rich voice, which sang out her poetic lyrics.




After the show, attendees could be heard discussing their favorite lines: one conversation I overheard centered around the chorus of her song “There is a Tree”: “There is a tree beyond this world/ In its ancient roots a song is curled./ I am the fool whose life's been spent/ Between what's said and what is meant.”

She was accompanied on the piano by the talented Gary Walters, who Newcomer has worked with for the last five years. Walters teaches jazz piano at Butler University, and often plays for the Indianapolis symphony: Newcomer describes him simply as “a fine musician and a lovely person.”



While she was in North Manchester, Newcomer also found time to meet with interested students for conversation and to share her experiences as a writer and musician. For instance, she met with MC students Zach Glenn and Ryan Deeter, the members of the fusion-folk-rock band Smoking Window.

“Meeting with Carrie was an excellent opportunity,” Deeter said. “Being able to talk to an accomplished performer and songwriter helped to provide us with a greater insight into the music world. Carrie also related to us how difficult it is to pursue music, and yet how rewarding and necessary it is to follow one's passion.”

Glenn agrees. “It was greatly empowering to talk with someone who practices my two passions, writing and music,” he said. “It showed me that it was possible to follow my heart and the crafts that I am passionate for, and to do so independently while having come from Indiana.”

Newcomer’s music has been described as folk, Americana, country and rock… and, indeed, it is all of these things and so much more. Although she does not write music specifically for a religious audience, her lyrics are influenced and shaped by the ways in which her experiences as a practicing Quaker have shaped her understanding of spirituality.



“I don't want to put the sacred in such a small box,” she said. “We can develop our appreciation of mystery, and find sacred moments in our day-to-day lives. When I write poems and songs, I look for where we connect. Beauty is discovered in the ordinary stuff, right here where we are.”

Newcomer is a native Hoosier who has developed a national and international following with her sincere, heartfelt, and elegant music. Folkwax magazine, the largest weekly magazine in the singer/songwriter genre, named her as the 2008 Artist of the Year, and awarded her newest album The Geography of Light the 2008 Album of the Year award; in 2002, she made a sweep of the Folkwax awards with her album The Gathering of Spirits.



In addition, she has received laudatory praise from such publications as Rolling Stone, USA Today, Acoustic Guitar, The Village Voice, Performing Songwriter and Bowlers’ Journal. That’s right… Bowlers’ Journal, in response to her lively, foot-stomping, hand-clapping, head-nodding tune “Bowling Baby,” off of her album Betty’s Diner.

“When I receive an award or some incredible praise from someone like [novelist] Barbara Kingsolver, well, there’s something very un-Quakerly in taking too much pride in it,” Newcomer said. “So I just embrace it with gratitude. It’s an affirmation.”

“The most important thing is that I allow my writing and music to keep changing, because I’m not interested in making the same album over and over again,” she continued. “Honest writing doesn’t focus on sticking with an equation that’s worked in the past, and it doesn’t censor either the pain or the beauty—because it's really an overlapping of the two.”



Her visit to Manchester College was much appreciated by the college community. “There are certain people that you meet, and instantly you can tell how awake they are to life around them,” Glenn said. “Carrie is definitely one of those people. She writes and performs powerfully, revealing the wondrous beauty and dark magnificence that is present in the day to day. She is both serious and comical, and always passionate and true.”

Newcomer's visit to MC was made possible through the generosity of MC graduate Sara Edgerton, a member of the college's Board of Trustees.







(This article originally appeared in the April 10, 1009 edition of The Oak Leaves. All photos by Laura McSpadden.)

Listen here... and enjoy!

Smoking Window to Play this Friday

Smoking Window, the band that was the subject of my last posting, is playing tomorrow, December 5th at 10:00 pm at the Time Out Inn in North Manchester, IN. The Time Out Inn is located at 403 State Road 13, North Manchester, Indiana 46962; their phone number is (260) 982-4321.

This show is a deal; the cover is only $3. I hope to see you there!

Smoking Window Lights Up the North Manchester Music Scene

When a couple of MC students get together and decide to get something started, there’s just no telling just what could happen and how far they’ll go.

For example, Zach Glenn and Ryan Deeter started off as roomies, hanging out and having fun while engaged in the unending business of being a student. Fast-forward a few years, and they’ve formed Smoking Window, the hottest thing to happen to the Manchester music scene in years.



Smoking Window has gifted audiences with their “fusion folk funk” at such venues as Kenapocamocha Coffee House, The Brewhouse, The Time Out Inn and last year’s MC Peace Week (where they performed as the Deeter-Glenn Connection). They also played a benefit show for the new MC radio station in Wampler, as well as benefits for the Firehouse at the local high school and at The Main View.

The core of their shows is their original songs. They approach song writing as a collaborative effort, more often than not composing their own individual parts (Glenn plays lead guitar and Deeter plays rhythm guitar and vocals) while remaining flexible and receptive to each other’s feedback. “When we write a song, I’m always asking Zach ‘How does this make you feel?’” Deeter said. ‘“What emotion is being moved into being?’ We make sure when we’re writing a piece that there’s coherence between us and the song.”



The first song that they wrote together, “Another Pot of Coffee,” is a beautiful song of hope that is grounded in their shared experiences through their time in college. “We try to make our music real to our lives,” said Deeter. “Most of the music we’ve written has communicated some aspect of our experience or views.” This sincerity shines through in their other originals, illustrating how seriously the two musicians are when they express that their biggest influence is life itself.

Their sets are complemented by some covers of rock hits, referred to by Glenn and Deeter as “crowd pleasers.” “A lot of our covers are 90’s rock because there are a lot of people who know those songs, and we want to be able to reach a lot of people right off the bat,” Glenn said. “But there is an interesting balance between becoming a crowd pleaser and playing what you want to play.”

Even when they are playing a cover tune, they put a lot of themselves into the performance. “On a lot of the covers I improv the entire time, and I don’t play them the same way twice,” said Glenn. “I really like that. It keeps us open and honest, and it keeps playing interesting.”



Deeter agrees, and said that this is the root of the difference between playing live and playing while recording in a studio. “We are much more ‘live’ music people than recording people—we like the aliveness of our songs, the way they’re different every time,” he said. “When recording, you play more cautiously than you do when you play live, because you want it to be ‘right.’”

And when it comes to music, it’s not about right or wrong, it’s about how well the music is able to reach the listeners. “We are fascinated by how one is affected emotionally through music,” Deeter said. “This doesn’t mean the music has to be complex and complicated, but it does mean the music has to capture a feeling, a moment, or a deep honesty.”



In fact, this is the root of their affinity with music and song-writing. “What I love about music is its ability to help people from different backgrounds connect,” Glenn said. “This happens for both the listeners and the musicians. During our show at the Time Out [on November 14th], I looked out and saw all these people really enjoying the music, and yet I couldn’t see all of them hanging out together at one time anywhere else. Everyone in the world is connected to music somehow, which means we’re all connected to each other through this medium.”



Anyone who has been to one of their shows will look forward to their next one. So, when you see them around on campus, ask them when and where they’re playing next, and make it a plan to go.

Several of their songs can be heard on their Myspace profile; just search for “Smoking Window,” send them a friend request and sit back to enjoy the tunes.



(This article appeared in the November 21, 2008 issue of The Oak Leaves)

Outdoor in Indiana: Ouabache State Park

It’s that time of the semester: everyone on campus is walking around with a preoccupied expression, an outward manifestation of their daunting to-do list that is likely at the forefront of their attention, and questions regarding how someone is doing are invariably answered with a simple, one word reply: “Busy.”

I confess that I was taken in by this frantic state of mind. Luckily, I remembered my own advice from my “Outdoors in Indiana” articles from last year, and I knew just what I had to do: retreat to the wilderness for a bit of peace and quiet. Within just a few hours of the end of my classes on Friday, November 7th, my van was loaded and I was on the road, heading towards Ouabache State Park.

“Ouabache” is derived from French and Native American languages. It is a word indicating a thing which is bright, light, and/or natural; the anglicized version of this name is the more widely-recognized “Wabash.” Although it is pronounced by modern-day speakers as “Wah’-bash,” it was originally pronounced “Wah-ba’-che.”
Ouabache State Park is located just outside of Bluffton, at 4930 E State Road 201. It is just barely over an hour’s drive from campus.

The park offers 47 primitive and 77 electric camping sites; fishing; tennis, basketball and volleyball courts; boating; five hiking trails; cross-country ski trails; a nature center; a paved bike trail; swimming (during the warmer months); a nature center; a fire tower and shelters that can be reserved for picnics or events. Although there is boat and canoe rental available, they do not offer ski rental; so, if you want to hit the cross-country ski trails, make sure you bring your own skis.

I chose to stay overnight at one of the primitive campsites. Although there were plenty of people at the electric campground, I was the only person in the entire primitive campsite area, a situation which suited me just fine.



For one thing, I could take my pick of the campsites. After all, some sites were not as large as others, or else had rocky, uneven ground. I chose one that was at a higher elevation (important if there is precipitation in the forecast, which there was) with a large, flat area that was relatively free from roots and rocks.

Secondly, it was quiet and very conducive to contemplation. My only companions were the forest animals and the campfire; after I finished setting up my tent, I was able to truly relax, free from the distractions that are all too pervasive within the world-at-large. I watched my campfire burn down to embers before retreating into the warm comfort provided by my tent.



And, yes, it was cold that night: the low was 35 degrees, and there were light, drizzly showers. However, I stayed toasty and cozy with my hoodie, Under-Armour and arctic mummy sleeping bag.



I suppose that many people could find a situation in which being warm requires such effort to be rather distasteful, but there is an important lesson to be learned from such experiences: it becomes patently obvious that the best place in the world where you could be is right where you are. Such complete contentment with things as they are can be hard to come by in day-to-day life.



The next day, after I ate a hearty breakfast and packed up my campsite, I set off on a hike. The park’s hiking trails range from one to six miles in length; all are rated as either “easy” or “moderate” in difficulty. I hiked trail four, a three-mile-long trail that wound around Kunkel Lake, through the forest, and around a “Wildlife Exhibit” of live bison.



The shorter trails are extraordinarily easy to hike on: the paths are wide and flat, and could be easily hiked by children and individuals in poor physical shape. However, they do not get very far from the buildings and campgrounds, and don’t provide the “lost in the wilderness” feel that I like so much. For this reason, I would recommend that anyone planning to hike in Ouabache State Park take either trail four or trail five, which meander the most deeply through the woods.



I drove back to Manchester in higher spirits than I’ve been in since the first week of classes. I had done some reading for my assignments and gotten a good night of sleep, it’s true: but more than that, I had been out in nature, active and attentive within the simplicity of the outdoors. It is amazing how little it takes for us to put all the complications of life back into perspective: all we have to do is decide that it’s important that we do so.

Remember: the world is right outside the door. Let’s go!


















(This article originally appeared in the November 14 issue of The Oak Leaves)

Black Student Union Hosts Clothing Drive

BSU is currently sponsoring a clothing drive to benefit foster children in northern Indiana. All students, faculty and staff are asked to donate gently-used clothing to the campus Intercultural Center (across the street from the Administration Building) by November 21st.

The clothing is being given to KidsPeace, which is, according to their website, “a private charity dedicated to serving the behavioral and mental health needs of children, preadolescents and teens.” Their mission is “to give hope, help and healing to children facing crisis.”

Indiana’s KidsPeace locations provide therapeutic foster care for individuals from birth to 21 years of age. As a result, clothing of all sizes is being collected, with an emphasis on garments for children and adolescents.

The clothing drive was conceived of by the current BSU executive board. “Unfortunately, through the years BSU has been known mostly for its parties and social gatherings,“ said John ‘J Bird’ Sams, MC junior and president of BSU. “We wanted to do something active to really help out those people who are in need.”

The decisions regarding what kind of fundraising to do or donation to make and whom to give the donations to were made very carefully. “When you’re dealing with money, things can get corrupt,” Sams said. “Clothes are just clothes. They’re not going to a corporation—they’re going right to the people who need them most.”

This was an important point to Jordan Tyson, MC junior and BSU’s vice-president. “We chose KidsPeace over Goodwill because Goodwill sells the clothes, rather than giving them away, and we could never be sure whether or not the clothing went to someone who was truly in need,” he said. “We wanted to be sure the clothing went to the people that would be most helped by them.”

Sams emphasized the significance of the donations going to foster children. “We wanted our focus to be on children, who can’t really do much to help themselves,” he said. “Sometimes they don’t even have good foster parents.”

This is not a problem that is far removed from life at Manchester College. There is an MC student (who asked to remain anonymous) who has been through foster care and has directly benefitted from the donations of a charity similar to KidsPeace. “I remember when I went to a foster home the first time, all I had were the clothes on my back,” she said. “These programs help foster kids not only with clothing but also with a sense of style and joy that they often need.”

This student hopes that many members of the MC community will decide to donate some of their clothing to KidsPeace. “Programs such as the ones BSU is working for help to make foster children's lives a bit less stressful, and make the child feel welcome when they are scared of the new environment,” she said. “Foster homes are often a scary thing for someone to experience.”

Participation in an event such as the clothing drive also serves to strengthen the sense of community here at MC. “In order to respect people as a whole, you need to unite with those who have it rougher than you,” Sams said. “You need to be willing to go outside your comfort zone and make some sacrifices.”

Tyson agreed. “BSU is here to unite people, at least as far as respect goes: you need to respect those who are different from you,” he said. “And to come together for a common goal is one way of uniting. Whether or not we like each other, let’s come together and show respect for each other so we can meet a common goal of helping people out.” The clothing drive offers the MC community with a chance to do exactly that.

There will be a second clothing drive sponsored by BSU to be held during the spring semester.

(This article originally appeared in the November 8, 2008 edition of The Oak Leaves.)