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(10/21/13 5:40pm)
She can make herself parallel to the floor and balance her body weight on one foot. She can lull you to sleep and make you sweat through your shirt. She can teach you a vinyasa and tell you why it's important.
When Kimberly Sotelo developed health complications as an adult, she said she had to take action.
In 2003, she joined Sivananda Ashram, a yoga community in Woodburn, N.Y., to learn not just gaining the muscle strength offered in yoga, but to achieve the holistic health and inner peace rooted in yoga.
"I needed to heal myself," Sotelo said. "It ended up being yoga was the answer."
The days tested Sotelo. Each morning began at 5:30 a.m. and didn't end until 11 p.m. Sotelo said the day wasn't meant for aimless wanderings, but for practice, meditation, daily discourses and hard work.
Sotelo said she spoke with interesting people, experts on astrology and horticulture, and all on the floor, because there, they didn't have chairs.
"It was not just physical practice, that just comes when you're immersed in the philosophy, anatomy and physiology," Sotelo said. "You're in a yoga community, isolated from everything else. It's life-changing."
Now, Sotelo said she uses her knowledge for good. Her Inner Sunshine Yoga and Wellness studio, located at 705 Avenue D in Opelika, held its grand opening Saturday, Sept. 28, to offer lessons and holistic approaches Sotelo learned at the Sivananda Ashram.
Inner Sunshine aims to transform lives through holistic health, individualized attention and alignment-based vinyasa, an active form of yoga.
"It gives people a whole lot more power," Sotelo said. "Your energy and your mind are alive. It helps people avoid hurting themselves and works for the long term."
The facility boasts a large room for practice and a separate room for Thai yoga therapy, a type of massage and assisted stretching.
Auburn students designed the facilities outdoors with a garden of edible, native and endangered plants. Sotelo said it's often frequented by butterflies, lady bugs and lizards, which contributes to the comfort of Inner Sunshine.
"I don't know another way," Sotelo said. "Being able to create a space where anybody is welcome to come and express their thoughts and ideas, to walk into the room and not feel judged."
(10/21/13 5:40pm)
Traveling down Gay Street, you may have noticed three shacks on the front lawn of the Wesley Foundation. These are not shacks, but homes.
Lisa Pierce, founder and director of Alabama Rural Ministries (ARM), is living in a house made of plywood and scrap materials to raise awareness of poverty in Alabama. Pierce moved in Friday, Oct. 11, and will stay until she raises $50,000 as part of her No More Shacks Campaign.
Approching the houses, one expects an endless regurgitation of facts and possibly a lackluster speech on poverty in Alabama, but that is not the case with Pierce's campaign. Pierce brings people into her home and for a few, all-too-brief moments, displays the poverty experience first-hand.
"It's also more of an awareness of the poverty housing and it's a volunteer drive," Pierce said. "We really want to get people hands-on with helping us in the community. It's really to show what sub-standard poverty housing looks like."
So far, ARM has raised $13,000, which will help build four small houses, and $50,000 goal will go to repairing 16 houses.
There are three houses on the lawn this year.Pierce is living in one, Wesley students built the second and the third replicates international poverty housing.
"For us, when we repair a home there are three things we look at." Pierce said. "We are looking to make it warm, safe and dry."
ARM evaluates a home's weatherization to see if the windows and doors are insulated, if the house is handicapped accessible and if the plumbing is in working order.
Pierce said she wants people to have a hands-on experience with poverty.
Guests will feel the splintering wood underneath their finger nails, and the cool breeze flowing through the cracks of the house.
"What we are trying to do is give a visual representation, be a little bit sacrificial in when we stay in it," Pierce said. "Me and others are going to be susceptible to the elements, and engage the everyday person who might want to help out in some way."
She said, there are a lot of Alabamians that live in houses similar to the one she lives in for the week.
"I've been in this when a tropical storm came through and I stayed in it," Pierce said. "That helps people get a visual of what's going on. It's hard for families to live in these conditions and when they just don't have the resources to hire somebody to fix the house."
Pierce asked a group of middle school girls what they would do if their grandparents had to live in a house like this, what happens when it rains or if it is cold outside.
She recieved answers such as: "My grandpa would go off the deep end!"
There are some families that do not have running water or electricity in their houses. Most of the families ARM works with live in their home, so the construction team tries to repair their home to make it better.
When Pierce explained to the girls she sleeps in the "shacks" to raise awareness and fundraise $50,000.
"Let me put (it) into perspective, how much do you think a small car would cost?" Pierce asked. The girls estimated thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
One girl asked if any of the houses Pierce lived in had bathrooms.
"The first house I ever repaired, the family had been living in a bus " Pierce said. "They had about nine kids about your age. The school system found out and gave them a portable classroom, which did not have a bathroom. So we had to help them with their bathroom. "
In Alabama, there is a shortage of 90,000 housing units and rapidly deteriorating homes in the area.
(10/12/13 3:40pm)
When April Scott, Ph.D student in counseling psychology, came to Auburn from South Florida, she noticed a trend in the Auburn music scene.
She said most of the bands sounded alike. To remedy this, she gathered some friends at Uptown in June 2012 for some "Rhythm and Rhyme." The crowd filled Uptown to capacity.
They built the poetry and music group "out of a desire to have a spoken word scene at Auburn," Scott said.
Scott said the group didn't have a vision and "just wanted to try it out," but have now grown wildly.
A year later, they've out-grown a backroom of Zazu Gastropub and now hold monthly meetings.
Scott said attendance usually ranges from 50-60 people.
The next meeting will be Sat. Oct. 12, at Mama Mocha's downtown location, 124 Tichenor Ave. Doors open at 8 p.m., and the show begins at 8:30 p.m.
According to a Rhythm and Rhyme flier, the event will celebrate homecoming weekend with a night of poetry and music.
The week features Dichotomy and Danni Cassette and event's sponsors are Auburn Guitar Shoppe and DreamScapes.
There is a $5 cover.
(10/13/13 5:00am)
Don't drink the paint water is the catchphrase.
Spirited Art, a franchised painting studio, offers classes for people wanting to learn the basics of acrylic painting with good friends while sipping good wine.
Each class features a different masterpiece and instructor, taught step-by-step.
"We are mainly about having a good time and you get to leave with something you are proud of and you actually enjoyed doing," said Sarah Canivez, lead teacher and owner of Spirited Art in Auburn. "It's meant to be fun and it's meant to be relaxing."
The studio, located at 3051 Frederick Road in Opelika in the Shoppes at Midtown next to Momma Goldberg's, officially opens Oct. 11.
"The way it works, is we already have a pre-set calendar where we pick most of the paintings on a daily basis," said Vincent Canivez, studio manager and owner. "The way we pick it could be, we like the painting or we've heard people coming to our class saying 'Hey, we really like this kind of painting.' Basically, it's driven by requests or personal interest from us."
Spirited Art offers one class per day starting at 6:30 p.m., and usually takes two - two and a half hours to complete.
All adult classes are $35 each. The Canivez's encourage customers to bring their own food and beverages. The studio also offers summer camps and is working on a Christmas mini-camp.
"Even if they have tried other painting places, we are not all the same," Sarah said. "It's like watching one movie and you don't like it, and decide you don't like movies. You know, maybe give it another shot."
Sarah taught classes at the Spirited Art studio in Huntsville before moving to Auburn. She graduated from Auburn in 2009 with a degree in art and English.
"In college, I got really big into painting, I used to be into drawing super realistic stuff," Sarah said. "Then you start painting and you're like, this is way more fun, because it doesn't have to look exactly like a picture. You can use your creative energy."
All ages are welcome to take classes, and Sarah said she has even taught a group of ladies in their '90s.
"Everyone, even if you're not an artist or someone who is super mathematical or super type-A, you are still going to have a little creative side," Sarah said. "But I think it gives people a way to almost be a kid again, to do something just because it's fun not because you have to or because you have accomplish something."
Vincent, Sarah's husband, was raised in France and attended a French university. As part of his business-school curriculum, he studied abroad in Auburn.
"For the past two years, we have had an entrepreneurial lifestyle," Vincent said. "We try to do our own stuff."
Sarah and Vincent married in 2009 and lived in France for more than a year while Vincent finished graduate school.
While he was in class, Sarah taught English classes, learned graphic design and French.
"We are really adventurous [and] really crazy," Sarah said. "We are kind of fly by the seat of our pants kind of people."
Vincent said professionally, the two are not living a mainstream business life.
"Definitely we love Auburn, that's a big reason why we came. That was our first idea," Vincent said. "We know Auburn, we know the people and we love it."
But making southern routes hasn't always been the Canivez way.
"We lived in France for almost a year and a half. We did the whole city thing. We lived up North, where it's cold," Sarah said. "We decided after that, we are small town people. We like to travel, but as far as making a home, Auburn I think is perfect."
Since settling south, the Canivez's made art their life with Spirited Art and their family has only accommodated.
"We like to take on unusual things, I think," Sarah said. "Like diaper-wearing cats and multiple businesses."
Chubby, their cat, suffers from Spina Bifida, but still rocks an Auburn diaper. Their other cat, Tiger, likes the Auburn Tigers.
"None of it has been planned, one thing has led to another. And we met in a parking lot through a mutual friend," Sarah said. "And then we started dating and never thought it would go anywhere, but we are still here. You make plans and at least with my life apparently, plans don't mean anything to the one who is controlling it."
(10/10/13 9:41pm)
Luke Bryan will visit the Auburn-Opelika area as part of his fifth-annual Farm Tour at Ingram Farms, Thursday, Oct 10.
In addition to the concert, Bryan also tours as an opportunity to help those in need.
Last year, eight students from agricultural families benefitted from the Luke Bryan Farm Tour Scholarship which helped them pay for college.
Tickets are $35 and parking is available for ticket holders. Parking opens at 2 p.m. for those looking for the full-tailgating experience. Doors open at 5 p.m. with Bryan beginning at 7 p.m.
Bryan's newly released album, which debuted Aug. 13, "Crash My Party," currently ranks No. 6 on Billboard's Top 200 albums.
With singles such as "Beer in the Headlights" and "That's My Kind of Night," which currently ranks number one on Country Billboard's Top 100, Bryan delivers a somewhat new sound, positively reviewed by listeners.
Many Auburn students anticipate the show, and one in particular is Jack Pomerantz, freshman in business. A fan of Bryan's music, he attended two previous concerts at Atlanta's Lakewood Amphitheater and said he remains equally excited for the upcoming show.
"Luke Bryan is always a great time," Pomerantz said. "Both times that I have gone, I had a fantastic time and I'm sure that this one will be the same way. He seems to never disappoint."
Matt La Penta, sophomore in finance, said he is also excited for the show. He has attended Bryan concerts in the past, and his favorite part is the tailgating before the show.
"I love getting out there early and just hanging out with all my friends," La Penta said.
Cole Swindell officially signed on as the show's opener along with The Peach Pickers and Chancie Neal.
Swindell, a singer/songwriter, is a personal friend of Bryan's. Swindell writes music for many top-country artists such as Bryan and wrote Craig Campbell's hit "Outta My Head."
The Peach Pickers consist of singer/songwriters Dallas Davidson and Rhett Akins and are also scheduled to make a performance. Both Davidson and Akins have written several songs on country music's top billboards.
Some of Davidson's songs include Lady Antebellum's "Just a Kiss" and Randy Houser's "Runnin' Outta Moonlight," while some of Akin's works include Lee Brice's "Parking Lot Party" and "It Goes Like This" by Thomas Rhett.
Chancie Neal will be the last of the opening acts, playing songs such as "Silverado" and "My Louisiana."
(10/10/13 7:59pm)
Sunday, Oct. 6, the Auburn Police Division arrested Dezdrian Smith, 24, of Atlanta, and Kentarious J. Barnett, 21, of Opelika, according to an APD press release.
The APD arrested Barnett on felony warrants for burglary third degree, theft of property second degree, fleeing and attempting to elude, and Smith on charges of felony warrants for burglary third degree and theft of property second degree.
These arrests stem from an APD investigation of a police report dated the same day.
The report described an incident of an Annalue Drive resident returning home at approximately 8:50 p.m., where he discovered two individuals inside his residence.
"The resident felt threatened and fired shots in his house at the intruders," Police Captain Lorenza Dorsey said. "They fled out the back of the residence."
"We set up a perimeter and were able to apprehend theses individuals in the vicinity within a few blocks of the residentce," Dorsey said.
Smith suffered a non-life threatening gunshot wound, was taken to the East Alabama Medical Center Emergency Room, treated for his injuries and released into police custody.
The victim reported two Samsung cell phones stolen, valued at $600, and sustains no legal charges.
"It was in his residence," Dorsey said. "He thought his life was threatened and he's defending himself inside his residence."
Smith and Barnett were transferred to the Lee County Jail, where they are awaiting bond. Smith's bond was set at $6,000 and Barnett's, $9,000.
(10/14/13 3:05am)
Each Sunday at Covenant Presbyterian Church, Elder Bob Norman, can be spotted leading worship or teaching children during Sunday school.
When the organ plays during service, Norman's wife can be seen with fingers flying over the keys and producing the worship music for all the churchgoers.
Whether preaching, teaching or planning worship, Norman said he is a man of faith, Sunday through Sunday, and it guides the decisions he makes each day.
"I am a man of faith," Norman said. "Not faith in myself or faith in government, but I am a man with strong faith in God. It forms and steers me in everything I do: my business, my personal life, my family life and my civic life."
Norman said he doesn't separate faith from who he is, so his relationship with Christ and within the community are the same.
"Integrity is part of that," Norman said. "If you are a person with a strong relationship with Christ and believe what the Bible teaches, that is not what makes us okay. When we have been changed drastically like I was, it forms who you are and drives who you are."
Growing up in the small town of Talladega, Norman was the youngest of four children, and said he grew up in a different time.
"I grew up in a small town in the South in the '50s," Norman said. "We didn't lock our doors, I rode my bike around town and my parents didn't worry about where I was or what might happen to me."
For Norman, where to go to college was never a question either.
He grew up an Auburn fan and his father went to Auburn before having to drop out during the Great Depression.
"Both my older brothers and my older sister went to Auburn, so I guess it was sort of assumed that I would go," Norman said. "I didn't want to venture out too far from the family tree I guess."
Norman said when he graduated from high school he wasn't very mature, and he went to Auburn purely to have a good time.
"I was not a real good student," Norman said. "I had a good time and had to drop out of school and go to work. I grew up a little bit and came back and got my degree."
When Norman graduated from Auburn with a degree in business administration ,he moved to Aniston before moving back to Auburn seven years later.
Looking at Auburn, Norman said he noticed that Auburn seemed to have a number of city representatives he had a lot of respect for.
He said he thought that was unique and he admired them.
"I have never thought Auburn was a place where the government was corrupt and people had their hands out looking for bribes and kickbacks," Norman said.
Norman said due to his impression of Auburn city officials and needing something to busy his hands, he decided to contribute to the city through its council.
"I thought I could do that," Norman said. "I thought I had some leadership communication qualities I could put to use, and my integrity is valuable to me. I thought I could contribute."
Serving on City Council, spending time at his church and completing his honey-do lists is how Norman said he spends his free time now that his daughter is grown and soon to be married.
Norman is currently serving his second term as city councilman, and he said once his ten years are up he considers his civic debt paid.
He will continue to serve his church and follow his faith.
"I have made a lot of dumb choices, and still make them from time to time," Norman said. "Christians aren't perfect, Christians are human beings that have been changed but still have a flawed nature. I can make a bad mistake today, but I can recognize it pretty quick. I feel like I make more good choices than bad."
(10/13/13 5:00am)
Proper approval and mere licenses are the only two roadblocks stopping the John Emerald Distilling Company from opening.
The father and son owner's, John and Jimmy Sharp, final approval for the distillery will be heard at the next Opelika Planning Commission meeting, Oct. 22. The distillery plans to open early 2014.
"John Emerald is my grandfather's first and middle name," said Jimmy Sharp, head distiller. "That's kind of the theme of our business, is all of the products are named after family members."
The distillery's signature products are John's Alabama Single Malt Whiskey, Hugh Wesley's Gin, Spurgeon's Rum and Gene's Spiced Rum.
All of the products are named after Sharp family members.
"The idea is making this product honoring our forefathers, or ancestors, if you will," Sharp said. "We are creating a tradition. There is not currently a tradition for Alabama whiskey. And so it's kind of like an open slate to be defined. We feel spirits can be a product that can be associated with the community and be part of the identity of the community."
Sharp owned a plaster company and after shutting down the company, Sharp and his father decided to open a distillery. Sharp said it is illegal to home distill, but is legal to home brew.
"They hear distillery and 'Oh, what kind of beer are you going to make?'" Sharp said. "It's not beer, it's different."
Craft distilling is often synonymous with micro-distilling, but Sharp said the latter is the preferred term by people in the industry.
Sharp said he plans to build a glass wall separating the stills from the public tasting area. That way, people can watch the process, but be behind glass.
"Craft distilling was at the same point craft breweries were 15 years ago," Sharp said. "We started going to school, did an internship in Scotland and went to some schools out West. We just got as much knowledge as we could."
Sharp said craft distilling implies a small operation most organizations define as producing less than 100,000 gallons per year.
Oct. 1, the City of Opelika approved craft distilleries, such as the John Emerald Distilling Company, may produce no more than 75,000 gallons annually.
"Everything is more hands on," Sharp said. "Even down to bottling, we bottle it by hand. There's no automated anything really, from start to finish it's a hands-on process."
The distillery will also operate a season simulator as a way around aging the whiskey for 10 years.
Sharp said a storage room will be heated for a week, left alone and cooled for a week to simulate the four seasons.
"I think the distillery is going to bring in a lot of tourism," Sharp said. "Every small distillery I've visited told us that they are bombarded by tourists. All of them, in the first six months, had to hire someone to deal with that. Bus loads came in to visit these places."
The distillery is located at 706 N. Railroad Ave. in the previous Railroad Art location.
"Our feature product is our single malt whiskey," Sharp said. "Basically because our family heritage goes back to Scotland and I've always enjoyed scotch myself."
Sharp said the Distillery will use as many Alabama products as they can.
A large portion of the sugar used in production will come from Alabama sugar cane.
"But we are going to smoke ours with local woods, predominately peach and pecan woods," Sharp said. "So to kind of give it more of a local flare, we are also making rum."
(10/10/13 5:00am)
"I believe in a sound mind, a sound body, and a spirit that it not afraid."
Active Minds at Auburn has adopted this line of the creed as a sort of mission statement for what they want to bring to Auburn's campus.
Active Minds is a group at colleges all across the country.
Their goal is to talk about mental health awareness and promote conversation. They are not a counseling service, but want to make a difference in the way students feel about mental health, and to let them know they are not alone.
Kyle Marchuk, junior in marketing, started the chapter at Auburn.
The organization impacts him on a personal level. A few years ago, one of his childhood friends committed suicide, succumbing to the pressures that college brought.
"(Keller) suffered from a well-masked depression that he did not reach out to anyone about," Marchuk said. "From that, he found his only 'escape' and it devastated my friends and community."
Ever since then, he saw the need to reach out and bring awareness of mental health to college students.
As president, Marchuk helps the chapter maintain focus on the objectives the group sets each year. He works as the chapter's representative, as well as an officer of outreach.
Sylvia Kim, senior in biomedical sciences, is the secretary of Active Minds at Auburn.
Recently, Kim has started a blog to promote joy and well being to those who need it: activemindsau.com.
"Each Wednesday, we will post a new blog, whether it be an inspirational story, funny video, poem or anything that will get students thinking while adding joy into the world," Kim said.
In the blog, statistics are shared from healthline.com.
One in four college students suffer from mental illness, including depression.
Depression is the number one reason students drop out of school. Seventy-five percent of college students do not seek help for mental health problems.
"Our hope is that this blog will be a resource to those hurting, who are curious, and those who just want a laugh," Kim said.
Alex Hall, sophomore in psychology, is the vice president of the group.
"Mental health has acquired a stigma that it doesn't really deserve," Hall said. "We strive to spread awareness about mental health and lower the stigma through using our student voices."
The group stresses that they are not a counseling center, but they provide necessary information and show students what resources are available to them.
"The mission of Active Minds Inc. is to utilize the student voice to change the conversation surrounding mental health," Marchuk said. "And that is what we intend to do here on Auburn's campus."
(10/10/13 6:45pm)
On Oct. 17, from 6-9 p.m. the Lake Martin Area United Way will host its first fashion show in Alexander City.
Judith March designer Stephanie Carter will be showcasing exclusive first looks from her 2014 spring collection at the Shoppes of Queen's Attic.
A trunk show featuring Carter's popular game day dresses will follow with wine and hors d'oeuvres from local eateries. All proceeds from ticket sales and the trunk show will go to the United Way to benefit the area.
In the past two years, Tallapoosa County has suffered from many tornadoes, and July brought the Russell Corporation's announcement to lay off more than half of its Alexander City employees and threaten the city's financial stability.
For the United Way, these events meant resorting to innovative methods to raise money for services such as Meals on Wheels and the Boys and Girls Clubs.
Luckily for philanthropists and fashionistas alike, initiatives coordinator of the Lake Martin Area United Way, Stephan Tomlin, has remained friends with the Judith March creator since they graduated from Troy State.
Tomlin recalled Carter's beginning selling clothes to sorority houses, which blossomed into the fashion powerhouse that it is today.
Because of her humble start and tenacity to achieve her goals, Carter has made a point of supporting charities.
To Carter, fashion and charity go hand-in-hand.
Carter said her goal is to boost confidence.
"Doing the right thing makes you feel more confident as a woman," Carter said.
When Tomlin asked her to bring designs to the benefit, Carter didn't hesitate.
"It warms your heart when somebody cares enough about other people to be able to give back," said Sharon Fuller, executive director of the Lake Martin Area United Way.
During the event, guests will mingle with the designer and the CEO of Southern Fashion House, Christy Carlisle Smith.
In August, childhood friends Carter and Smith developed Southern Fashion House in Santa Rosa Beach, Fla. to be parent company to Carter's lines Judith March, Deja Vu and Jacque & Janis, as well as two labels which are still in development.
Smith, an Auburn apparel design alumna and native of Troy, spent 10 years working in New York City eventually becoming the senior designer for couture eveningwear label Kay Unger.
With only high praise for the Auburn University Department of Consumer and Design sciences, Smith encouraged students.
"Take opportunities that are given to you," Smith said. "You have to take those chances and just let life take you places."
She said the call from Carter to start the fashion house was a surprise, but she is happy to be back in the South.
"To me fashion is starting to go more Southern anyway," Carter said, referring to the latest runway trends which employ lace detailing and chambray fabric as well as a movement toward designs that are simultaneously romantic and casual.
In addition to Southern Fashion House labels, attendees can expect to shop among booths set up by more than 10 Alexander City retailers plus Fringe Consignment Boutique from Auburn.
Tickets to the event cost $25 and include drinks and food.
They may be purchased at Fringe Consignment Boutique at 2436 E. University Drive in Auburn.
Call the Lake Martin Area United Way at 256-329-3600 for volunteer opportunities and directions to Queen's Attic. Visit their Facebook event page for more information.
(10/10/13 1:00pm)
The 50th anniversary of Auburn's desegregation is on the horizon, and it can be hard for current students to imagine what the University was like in the '60s for the students who lived that history.
Jim Vickrey, Owen Brown, and Andy Hornsby, Auburn alumni, were able to paint a picture of what life on The Plains was like almost half a century ago.
Vickrey graduated from Auburn with his first degree in 1964. He was president of the Student Government Association from 1963-64, which had some differences from today's SGA.
"There was a Student Government Association which covered everybody, men and women," Vickrey said. "Then there was an additional Women's Student Government Association that just focused on women."
Vickrey said the WSGA was limited mostly to the women's residence hall life.
Vickrey also said during this time, all women were required to live on campus and abide by the set of rules that were enforced.
"It was a very restrictive atmosphere for women," Vickrey said. "They were very well-protected in the dorms. There was a curfew every night. You had to get in by a certain time or you'd get locked out of the dorm."
Hornsby enrolled at Auburn fall 1963 and graduated in 1968 after spending time in the Army Reserve.
Hornsby said he recalls less than half of the students having cars, so traffic and parking were never a problem and it created a relaxed atmosphere.
Brown enrolled at Auburn in 1960 and graduated in 1964. Hornsby and Brown both frequented the War Eagle Supper Club as an off-campus hangout, and were both members of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.
For on-campus dining, Hornsby went to the old Foy Union where he said each fraternity had a table.
"In my day, most students ate on campus," Hornsby said. "Whoever you were dating at the time would come sit at your table."
Though some traditions may have changed, Hornsby said downtown Auburn is one thing that has remained remarkably unchanged.
He said he remembers two movie theaters downtown that only had a single screen.
"The downtown part is remarkably the same," Hornsby said. "Much bigger, much more grandiose, but independently run businesses for the most part."
In 1964, Auburn was integrated when Harold Franklin registered for classes for graduate school and became the first African-American student to attend Auburn.
Vickrey, Brown and Hornsby, were all students at Auburn during this time.
Brown said he thinks everybody at Auburn was determined not to go through the same thing the University of Alabama experienced when George Wallace stood in the schoolhouse door to prevent integration.
"We were afraid [Wallace] was going to do that same set of theatrics at Auburn," Vickrey said. "He wouldn't tell anybody what he was going to do, and at the last minute decided not to come so we had a very, very quiet integration."
Vickrey said the University and student leaders spent months preparing for that day, and he was glad it worked out the way it did.
Hornsby said one particular moment in time has stuck with him since the day Franklin arrived on campus with hundreds of students gathering to watch him enter his first class.
"We had a great All-American guard named Bill Van Dyke," Hornsby said. "As Franklin approached his first class, and I remember him walking in that dark suit, he had to be scared to death...but as he waited to go into his first class, Bill Van Dyke broke out of a group and walked over and shook hands with him and walked into class with him."
Although the Auburn University Brown, Vickrey and Hornsby attended was different from today's campus, many aspects of student life have continued.
They still enjoyed traditions students today participate in, including decorating floats for Homecoming week, and singing the alma mater during football games.
(10/10/13 5:00am)
Pine Hill Cemetery will come alive the nights of Oct. 10-11, with characters from Auburn's past.
The bi-annual Pine Hill Cemetery Lantern Tour, sponsored by the Auburn Heritage Association, will take guests on a candle-lit stroll through Auburn's oldest cemetery, located on Armstrong Street.
"The purpose of the tour is to educate the local community and surrounding areas about the local history of Auburn, because the cemetery is a microcosm of what Auburn has become," said Mary Norman, Auburn Heritage Association director.
Tour guides comprised of local volunteers, dressed in Civil War period costume, will lead groups through illuminated paths to visit with historic figures in Auburn's history.
Additional volunteers will portray the ghosts of Auburn's historic icons, such as city founder Judge John J. Harper, Georgie and Mary Petrie, and Mollie Hollifield.
Lan Lipscomb is a returning volunteer who has been portraying Auburn's characters for more than 10 years.
Lipscomb will play William "Uncle Billy" Mitchell, who, upon his death in 1856, requested to be buried in his feather bed.
His crypt, with the feather bed inside, is visible in the center of Pine Hill.
"I love (Uncle Billy) because I get to lie in a big old iron bed while I wait for people to show up," Lipscomb said. "You have to fight the temptation to fall asleep. I love doing it. It's just fun."
A few years ago, Lipscomb portrayed his own great-great-grandfather during the lantern tour. This year, Lipscomb's son Sam Lipscomb, 11, will be joining him as a Civil War drummer boy.
"I'm kind of a picture for all the other soldiers that have died," Sam said.
Mollie Hollifield is another Auburn icon who will be given a voice at the lantern tour. Hollifield, a 1902 graduate of Auburn, was one of the first writers to write about the history of Auburn.
Her book, "Auburn: Loveliest Village of the Plains," was published in 1955. Erlene Lingle, Auburn resident, 86, will play Hollifield this year.
"Miss Mollie was older and had a boarding house," Lingle said. "They had students (stay), so she hooked up and married one of them. Miss Mollie was a character."
According to Norman, the cemetery, located just a block from Auburn's campus, is continually the victim of vandalism.
Norman said the city of Auburn maintains the cemetery, but the Auburn Heritage Association puts in extra money to repair vandalized grave markers and put up fencing.
The lantern tour is one way the Heritage Association raises the funds to keep the graves in good condition.
The Pine Hill Cemetery Lantern Tour runs Oct. 10-11 from 7-9 p.m.
Tickets are $10, and parking is available at Auburn Junior High School on Samford Avenue. Trolleys will be available to take visitors to the cemetery.
All proceeds go toward the Auburn Heritage Association for the promotion and preservation of the history of Auburn.
(10/04/13 3:20am)
Auburn City Council met Tuesday, Oct. 1, to discuss street closings, board appointments and alcoholic beverage licenses. The Citizens Communication brought discussions of racism in the fire department and questioned the Council's support of schools.
Julian McPhillips, of McPhillips Shinbaum, LLP in Montgomery, represents Christopher Turner, an Auburn firefighter.
McPhillips said Auburn's population is approximately half black and half white, however according to the 2010 Census, Auburn is approximately 75 percent white and 16.5 percent black.
"Few blacks are being hired to begin with, and whites with much less experience and time on the job are being promoted, while blacks are being denied," McPhillips said.
McPhillips said no black people have been promoted by the fire department since 1996.
"Auburn's fire department, in its defense, says that in order to be promoted, the fireman must pass an assessment center validation. And Mr. Turner has not done that, they say," McPhillips said. "We say, the assessment center requirement is frankly a ruse or pretext that allows the Auburn Fire Department to discriminate against black employees, especially in promotion."
Council member Arthur Dowdell of Ward 1, said the firefighter assessment test is not designed to take into account experience. He said the test asks difficult and often trick questions.
"We ought to eradicate or delete, as far as I'm concerned, the assessment center at our discretion, we could do that," Dowdell said. "I think it's time we look at the fire department and see [that] it does not look like America."
"And we must look at this and see there is something remiss, there's something wrong in the Auburn Fire Department," Dowdell said. "It seems like we are not going forwards, we are regressing."
The city defended their practices citing a history of equality.
"We use race-neutral hiring practices when they hire, or promote," said Bill James, director of Auburn Public Safety.
He said every city department uses race-neutral standards of practice when hiring or promoting.
When asked if racial claims had been made before, James said, "Yes, there have been some allegations."
(10/06/13 1:15pm)
After 10 years, the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the highest accreditation for a museum.
"It's sort of the industry's gold housekeeping seal of approval, if you will," said Charlotte Hendrix, print and digital media producer for the museum. "It lists that we are sound, and it can be used when applying for grant funds, going to donors they see that we have this industry seal of approval."
The nation has more than 17,500 museums but only 1,005 are accredited.
"Birmingham, Montgomery, Mobile -- those are accredited museums, but Auburn has the only University art museum that's accredited in the state," Hendrix said. "That's something that's a great source of pride for people attending school here and our alumni.
"The museum has both a University and community audience. We work with faculty, staff and students at the University, but we also have people who live and work here in the community that we want to provide with unparalleled art experiences and quality programming."
The AAM are advocates for museums, provide development resources and hold museums to standards of practice.
"It can also help with if we were to bring in a particular exhibition or borrow items from a museum's collection," Hendrix said. "They'll see we have been checked off for having good practices. For some exhibitions, it can be a requirement and it just lets people in our community know we are among the industry leaders."
One of the first steps in the accreditation process is implementing the Museum Assessment Program. The museum is reviewed from the mission statement to how the museum works with different audiences.
"From there, there was a site visit by peer reviewers where they came and looked at everything from how our storage area, our preservation area for art, is kept," Hendrix said. "They looked at how we hold the collection in the public trust and how well we manage that, how well we manage things operationally."
Hendrix said museums must be open for a period of time before submitting an accreditation application. She also said the museum's advisory board and staff knew accreditation was a goal.
"It's part of our ongoing celebration which will culminate, Oct. 4, when we open the first-ever outdoor sculpture exhibition called 'Out of the Box,'" Hendrix said. "That will be on view for one year, and we had artists from all over the country submit entries."
More than 100 entries from 70 different artists were submitted.
The artistic team then narrowed the entries to 10 finalists.
Hendrix said sculpture has been the focus for the semester.
Currently, Jean Woodham, Auburn alumna and noted sculptor, has sculptures that are on display.
Woodham graduated in 1946 and moved to New York.
Woodham will be at the museum for the exhibition opening where her sculpture will be displayed for public viewing.
"You've heard the song, 'It's a Man's World,'" Hendrix said. "Well, she was doing something at the time that wasn't really being done in terms of an art."
Woodham has two sculptures on Auburn's campus: "Spinoff," at the entrance of the museum and "Monody" in front of Goodwin Hall.
"The accreditation is really the tip of the iceberg in terms of what's going on," Hendrix said. "All the excitement with JCSM in the 10 years that we have served Auburn University and the Auburn community."
(10/05/13 5:25pm)
Personal relationships and getting to know the people in a community are what set a small town apart from a large one filled with thousands of people.
When he walks into a grocery store, sporting a smile and a suit, he spends more time socializing and visiting with his neighbors than actually shopping -- that is a great thing to Council member Gene Dulaney.
Dulaney said the aspects of getting to know a person, their life, family and business, is the reason why he got into the banking industry.
It is the reason he got involved with his community and the reason he became a city council member.
"I have always been very involved in community activities. It's something I have always enjoyed doing," Dulaney said. "It goes back to that relationship part of being a part of this community and establishing relationships."
Dulaney grew up in Prattville, a city north of Montgomery.
In Prattville, he attended a high school where his graduating class was only 28 people.
When he decided to attend Auburn University, Dulaney said he was taught a lot more than just academics.
"It was a very important time for me, not only from an education standpoint but to grow socially and to develop people skills," Dulaney said. "That was a big part of my education. Coming from a background of a small school to becoming one of 22,000 students, it was a bit overwhelming. On a large campus, it can be kind of hard to find your niche."
After skipping around majors, Dulaney said he finally ended up majoring in finance and graduated in 1981.
"Banking is something I was always interested in because it is a very people-oriented type of business," Dulaney said. "What appealed to me the most, from a banking standpoint, are the personal relationships that you establish as part of your career."
After spending six years away from Auburn in Montgomery and Birmingham, Dulaney was given an opportunity to come back to Auburn.
"It's kind of interesting, my experience with Auburn having been here as a student, being gone for a few years and coming back as a working person," Dulaney said. "You see things from a different perspective than you do as a student."
Dulaney said the banking industry encourages their workers to be involved in the community, and Auburn Bank, where Dulaney currently works, is no different.
Along with other community projects, Dulaney got involved with United Way thanks to the Auburn Chamber of Commerce, and eventually worked his way into a seat in city council.
Dulaney is currently in his third term with the Council.
"As I did service in all these community organizations, it kind of opened my eyes to needs that come up in the city," Dulaney said. "It was kind of a natural progression to get into the council service. I'm not a politician. I'm not political by nature, but the thing that I have enjoyed about city council is that it is truly a service position."
Dulaney also works with The Miracle League of East Alabama, and said it is one of the things he most enjoys doing with his time.
The Miracle League is a baseball league for special-needs children.
The league uses a facility in Opelika with a specialized field equipped with a rubberized surface for the children with mobility issues.
"It is an opportunity to give special-needs children the chance to get out," Dulaney said. "They are playing a baseball game, but ideally are just out playing and having fun. "
For many years, Dulaney was involved in his son's baseball team as a coach for Dixie Youth Baseball.
When his son outgrew youth baseball, The Miracle League opportunity presented itself to him.
"It has been a very fun thing and very rewarding to me to be a part of that," Dulaney said. "It is just a neat experience to see those kids having a great time. I am probably blessed more for being around them then they are being around me."
Dulaney represents Ward 7 and has since his election in 2002.
Dulaney is married to his wife, Reeder, and have two children.
(10/02/13 10:10pm)
Thirteen years ago, Highway 280 didn't stretch four lanes across, and didn't lead travelers directly to Birmingham, as it currently does. The two-lane highway snakes through back roads and small towns, one of which is Waverly.
Traffic suited for four lanes of highway coming through a two-lane road generated constant hassle and hazard for Waverly locals and people passing through.
"Forever it was 18 wheelers and everything coming right through here. Can you imagine all that? Four-lane traffic coming right through this little, bitty, skinny road? That's what it was like all day and all night," said Scott Peek, owner of Standard Deluxe, a print shop that doubles as a music venue.
The Alabama Department of Transportation completed construction of a larger Highway 280 that bypassed Waverly altogether and relieved traffic in 2000. It was reason to celebrate, and the most fitting way to celebrate was to boogie.
A year later, Peek held the first Waverly 280 Boogie as a community festival of music, art and craft. The festival began humbly with a few hundred attendants, at no cost, and now returns annually packed by a dedicated and enthusiastic crowd.
"For 10 years, it was free," Peek said. "We did everything for free and we took donations. Some people paid and some people didn't. So, it was tons of work for free and people got it for 10 years."
As the Boogie grew up and shows at Standard Deluxe persisted throughout the years, the venue gained a reputation among musicians and fans.
"(Standard Deluxe) is kind of the big boy of the music scene," said Jake Carnley, local musician and recent Auburn graduate. "Playing there is just an honor, and you're playing for people who are thirsty for good music and who are expecting good music."
Carnley is a regular patron of the venue, but has also had the experience of playing at the Boogie in years past.
In the 11th year, Peek's business moved, and so did the location of festival.
With this move came the introduction of The Waverly Fall Boogie in addition to the yearly spring festivities.
Musicians now perform on an eclectic, tin-roofed stage and music lovers take it in under light-draped trees in the backyard of Peek's home.
Sitting, standing or boogying, the grass of Peek's yard provides a show experience atypical of a concert hall.
"Everybody knows it's somebody's yard," Peek said. "It's not bar, you know what I mean? It's not somewhere you can trash, you kind of feel like you're sitting in somebody's yard and you are. People respect it."
Twelve years after the first Boogie, the event has grown from a celebration of freedom from overcrowded roads to a widely known music festival.
This year's Fall 280 Boogie, which took place Sept. 28, drew in more than 1,000 attendants and nationally recognized bands such as Houndmouth and Jason Isbell.
The stop in Waverly on their tour throughout the states provided the Illinois-based band Houndmouth with their first trip to Alabama. The crowd in Standard Deluxe took the band by surprise because they have become accustomed to playing larger music festivals and shows in more well-known venues.
"We didn't know what to expect," said Katie Toupin of Houndmouth. "When we were driving up we were like, 'Are we going to someone's house? What's happening? But then we got here and everybody was super into it. It was surprising, we didn't have any idea of what to expect. We do a lot of summer festivals, but we didn't do any smaller ones like this, so this was really kind of refreshing. It's very unique."
After touring with The Alabama Shakes, Toupin said she also appreciated getting to see their home state and, "see what they're all about."
Houndmouth took the stage second to last, and got the crowd on their feet with songs from their latest album "From the Hills Below the City."
Toupin and other band members were conversational with the crowd, cracking jokes and telling stories.
Hundreds remained after the show, packing out the yard, as night fell and headliner Jason Isbell took the stage.
Though Jason Isbell and Houndmouthwere the main events of the day-long festival, other bands such as Peewee Moore, Great Peacock, Doc Dailey and others entertained the crowd from early in the day until well into the afternoon.
"There were a lot of people there who weren't just there to see Jason Isbell," Carnley said. "And so I think that's how you can really gauge the growth of it. It wasn't just about one band. People were there, they had blankets out. They packed food, they packed beer, they made it an event which is exactly what it needs to be."
(10/07/13 1:00am)
Most students consider Auburn's culture to be different from the culture of their hometowns. To international students, the difference is a bit more radical.
On top of the stress of class and everyday life of any college student, international students must constantly speak a second language, learn the ins-and-outs of American culture and live oceans away from their families.
"Conversation is difficult," Akari Ogawa, a sophomore in economics from Tokyo said. "In junior high school and high school we just learned reading and listening. We didn't learn speaking."
Ogawa said she is here on a 10-month foreign exchange program with a group of 30 students from Nihon University in Japan. She and her classmates have been in Auburn since March and will return home in December.
Satona Hayakawa and Ken Katayama, fellow Nihon exchange students, said they agree with Ogawa that language is a challenge, but is a significant part of why they are here.
"I want to practice speaking English many, many times so I can know it," Hayakawa said.
Like many Auburn students who go to Italy or Spain for a semester, international students find being immersed in the language and culture is the best way to learn.
"While I'm here, I feel like I should spend more time with my American friends and get used to things here." Teresa Tian, senior in food science, said. "If you don't speak English, it can get better. I tell my American friends to tell me if they do not understand my pronunciation or grammar. Then I can get better."
Many international students go through Auburn's Intensive English Program to improve their language skills and become more familiar with American culture.
Despite the challenge of communication, one Auburn tradition excites foreign and domestic students alike.
"I had never seen football before," Tian said. "I see why Americans get so crazy. You feel like you are a part of Auburn at football games. It's very exciting."
Katayama said he also feels the electric atmosphere of a Saturday on The Plains.
"I love football. It's so enthusiastic," Katayama said. "I've gone to all three games this year."
Other than the great staple of football, international students appreciate Auburn's other qualities.
"Everyone here is very friendly and they stop and talk to each other," Tian said. "Beijing is a big city, so everyone is working very fast and do not have much time to stay with friends and family because they are so busy."
This aspect of southern charm is new for many foreign students.
"I like the people here," Ogawa said. "Everyone is so kind. In Tokyo, if I don't know a person and pass them, we walk by each other and do not smile. But here, people smile."
For those who grew up in cities, Auburn's surroundings are just as appealing as its people.
"I like Auburn's nature," Hayakawa said. "It is different from where I live."
While many international students said they are enjoying their time here, they often miss the familiarity of home.
Family, friends and food were the top three things both Tian and Katayama said they miss most.
Auburn makes every effort to offer cultural comforts and make the transition an easy one.
Charus Campbell, assistant director for Greek Life and Intercultural Programs, said his office helps set up airport pick-ups, arranges housing for students who arrive before their apartment move-in date, assists in setting up insurance and offers intercultural events to help them acclimate to American culture.
According to Campbell, the International Student Organization (ISO) holds events celebrating various cultural festivals and holidays to encourage cultural awareness.
This includes the annual Peace Dinner, a tradition started after the Sept. 11 attacks and aims to promote peace and understanding across cultures.
The organization also hosts more frequent, informal events.
"The ISO has a social hour every Friday at 4 p.m. in the Student Center Room 2222/2223," Campbell said. "It's a time for students to come together and socialize. We are working to better engage international and domestic students alike."
Campbell said he encourages American students to make an effort to attend these multicultural events on campus.
"International students want to interact more and learn more about American culture while they're here getting their degrees," Campbell said.
There are 1,332 foreign students from 85 countries on The Plains this fall.
According to Jessica Holley, manager of the Office of International Student and Scholar Services, this is an increase of 211 undergraduates and 33 graduates from last year.
Out of the entire foreign-student population, Holley noted only 362 are undergraduate-level.
Auburn aims to increase this number drastically in the near future.
"As part of the University's overall strategic plan, the provost and the Board of Trustees have mandated that we want to enroll 1,000 undergraduate international students over the next five-10 years," Campbell said.
Holley has been involved in recruiting efforts in Taiwan and Turkey. She said her group went to different study abroad fairs in the countries trying to promote Auburn.
"We had a huge alumni population from Taiwan back in the '80s," Holley said. "The alumni would come to the fairs and talk to the students in Chinese and tell them 'Auburn is where I went to school, you should go there too.' They were very helpful."
In addition to recruiting, Holley's office works with international students to get appropriate documentation.
This includes documents necessary to apply for a visa with the U.S. Embassy.
"Once they get their visa, they come into the U.S.," Holley said. "Once they get here they check in with us and we help make sure they are on track."
Upon arrival, international students go through orientation. Similar to the University's other orientation sessions, International Student Orientation is where international students learn basic information about attending Auburn. However, there are a few different opportunities.
"During orientation, you can sign up for an Auburn family," Tian said. "You spend time with them and they help you while you are here. Because I have an Auburn family, I feel like I have a home here."
With all Auburn students, the feeling of home is what the University strives to provide.
Both Holley and Campbell said they encouraged domestic and international students to be open and share their cultures.
They see the intercultural opportunity as invaluable.
"We bring the world to Auburn," Holley said. "I think that's very important and it can be very fulfilling."
(10/07/13 5:00pm)
Among the thousands of sketchy, pointless apps out there, there are a handful of apps that actually serve a purpose and can make your life easier.
Flipboard is one such app.
Flipboard can be used to check the news and organize the information users like.
Flipboard also gives you the option to create your own "magazine" through the app. Flipboard is free, and it allows you to only read the news topics you're interested in.
Flipboard has an area for users to make a profile. Under each user's profile, they can create "magazines" organized in groupings of the articles the user has saved.
There is a section called "my subscriptions," where there are shortcuts to different topics.
The different subscriptions include categories such as news, technology, Flipboard Picks, design, National Geographic, Inside Flipboard, Twitter and Facebook.
Users can also connect to other social media outlets like Google+, LinkedIn, Flickr, Tumblr, YouTube and SoundCloud.
There is an option to "discover more" where they have categories of information under "new and noteworthy" and a compilation of their readers' favorite articles.
If you're like me and get completely overwhelmed in new or big cities by all of the entertainment and food options, Flipboard can help narrow down the selection.
They have a section of national and international cities, from Denver to London, called "city guides." It gives you current news for the city, top restaurants to try, music performances for the night, shopping venues, and cheap events if you want to be thrifty.
This app works well for anyone who wants to stay up-to-date with the news without having to look through 10 different news sources until they find the information that they like.
They cater to all different types of newsreaders, from musicians to artists and food-lovers.
Similar to Instagram and Twitter, Flipboard allows users to follow other users, and has the option to make their profiles private or public.
You can post videos on Flipboard, and it provides an easy way to browse information from Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and other popular sites all at once while throwing in a mixture of widely read news sources such as USA Today and Rolling Stone.
Because of the way I organized my magazines for my profile, with just a few clicks, I can read about the Pope and then switch to an article about my favorite television show.
It provides a wide spectrum of topics with just a few flicks of my thumb. Flipboard is one app I can use every day.
Instead of distracting me for 30 minutes at a time such as Candy Crush, I can actually learn something by using Flipboard.
(10/07/13 5:00pm)
A cool breeze swept through the Davis Arboretum as ribbons of sunlight slipped through the looming trees.
The laughter of small children and the smell of burning incense holistically created an ethereal connection between man and nature.
The celebration of Pagan Pride Day Saturday, Sept. 28, went off without a hitch as a community communed with nature.
The celebration was intended to promote an understanding of paganism, stomp out negative stereotypes associated with it and to bring the community closer together.
The event was organized by The Church of the Spiral Tree, a non-profit, ecumenical pagan church.
Dotted along the side of the Arboretum were independent and local vendors selling their homemade wares.
Charlotte Baker, horticulturist and owner of Night Shade, was one of the many vendors selling wares at the celebration.
Baker's stall was decorated with handmade jewelry and trinkets. Also laid out among her wares were pillows.
Their soft and dark, swirling shades of blues with stars were reminiscent of Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night."
"These little pillows are full of mugwort," Baker said. "That's a commonly used magical herb I grew myself. Sleeping on a pillow of mugwort is supposed to induce dreams of prophecy. I don't know if it has ever induced any dreams of prophecy with me, but it's made me dream some pretty wacky stuff."
Another stall representing Karma/Medusa's Lair was run by Kathryn Lane, co-owner of Karma and Medusa's Lair in Auburn.
Karma/Medusa's Lair is Auburn's only holistic healing center and organic concepts hair salon.
Their goal is to bring alternative healing methods to Auburn. They make almost all of their own organic hair products.
"Most organic products are crazy expensive, but not at our shop," Lane said. "Larger businesses are actually at a disadvantage to us. We are actually caring for our consumers. We are not poisoning our consumers. They're toxic, we're not. We are not trying to kill off our customers."
Lane also spoke about the potentially dangerous ingredients that other companies put into their products.
"The FDA stopped regulating the hair and beauty industry back in 1938, so there is no one who is testing our products," Lane said. "The FDA will test individual ingredients, but they don't test them as a whole. There is something that is called the 'Deadly Dozen,' the 12 most toxic ingredients in our hair and beauty products. These things are linked to learning disabilities, cancer, allergies, birth defects and infertility. All of our products are made in-house and overseen by a master herbalist."
Scheduled throughout the day were classes including dowsing, working with animal spirits, numerology and rootwork.
People were welcome to come and go as they pleased.
Charlotte Nicole Dyer, junior in visual arts, sat in the grass sketching Auburn's local "Wizzard" as he gave tarot card readings.
"I think (the event) has been really informative for a lot of people so far," Dyer said. "I like the idea of the classes they are doing. I like that they are keeping it on a level where anybody can come into it and get information."
Robert Von Allman, volunteer and member of The Church of the Spiral Tree, commented on students who fear they would try to be converted to paganism by going to Pagan Pride Day.
"We discourage people from doing that," Allman said. "We don't (convert people). There is not a single person that I've said, 'hey, you know, Athena's the way. You know, if you just pray to Athena, your hunts will be better, your test scores will be better, your cat will be better.' I don't do that and I have never done that."
Linda Kerr, organizer of the event and founder of The Church of the Spiral Tree, said students who don't always subscribe the their belief system still come for fun.
"Oh yeah, that's the point of us doing a public event like this," Kerr said. "The public can come here and sit in on any of the classes and go to the ritual. It's open to everybody and if they don't like it, then whatever; as long as they sit there and they are respectful."
Dyer said many people don't understand what the event is actually like.
"I think that a lot of people have the presupposition that something like this would be all preachy and kind of convertive, but it seems to be very welcoming and accepting of all types," Dyer said. "I haven't really caught any flak from anybody since I've been here and everybody has been super welcoming.
"So I don't see why anybody would be too opposed to maybe coming and walking around for a little bit and seeing what all is up here. It's a wonderful Saturday to be out in nature."
(09/26/13 4:05am)
Less than 50 degrees in the harsh conditions of the Arctic might not seem like the easiest place to film a documentary, but National Geographic photographer James Balog was determined.
The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art in Auburn and local group Earth-Now.org partnered to show Balog's findings concerning the size and scope of receding glaciers in the Arctic.
"He really wanted to answer the question: how rapidly are the glaciers receding," said Virginia O'Leary, co-director of Earth-Now.org. "He had the idea of setting up cameras with timers and putting them on poles that were driven into the ice into the arctic."
Using time-lapse technology and cameras specially modified to withstand the harsh conditions of the Arctic, Balog was able to record in real-time what was happening.
By accident, O'Leary said the graduate students Balog was working with captured the largest caving of a glacier ever recorded. The piece of ice that came off took 90 minutes to fall and was the size of Lower Manhattan.
"You see it coming off and plunging into the water," O'Leary said. "Then the other thing you see, of course, is the water rising. And as the ice melts the sea level rises. So it is very dramatic."
The museum showed the documentary, "Chasing Ice," Sept. 22 at 2 p.m.
"We are at capacity," O'Leary said. "We think it is perfect. We are excited because this is quite an extraordinary documentary."
Visit Earth-Now.org or NationalGeographic.com for more information on "Chasing Ice."
