Yo Magazine Fall 2008

Youngstown’s regional culture magazine for loving life and living

[The Yo* Magazine] Gd *the identity issue, fall 2008

grit in their blood Using the tough Youngstown image to get ahead

Race to the finish line: did skin color affect Youngstown’s vote?

Letter from the editors

Editors Sarah Sole [email protected] Richard Louis Boccia [email protected]

Identity Issue Fall 2008

Contributing Writers Mariam Bshara Cristina Cala Doug Dierkes Sam Marhulik Todd Mounce Sam Pysher Sarah Sole Emmalee Torisk Jessica Woods

Dear readers, Living in the Yo’ means dealing with grit. It’s part of the city’s identity, and part of ours. Some people, like Omarosa and artist Bob Barko Jr. have built a career around the tough image of Youngstown (pages 12 and 18), but identity can be an obstacle as much as a career starter. For the women who work as exotic dancers, it’s a struggle to define themselves as something more (page 15). For the two bands we get to know in this issue, identity is not restricting — The Zou is based in Youngstown but tours the country (page 4), and Family Force 5 isn’t your typical Christian band (page 14).

Copy Editor Chelsea Pflugh

Designers

Richard Louis Boccia Cristina Cala Kristy Chen Adam Rogers Sarah Sole

3 4 6

YOU ARE HERE Music The Zou, back in their natural habitat

Election ’08 investigating race in color

Web Designer Adam Rogers

Pursuing your hobby of choice can mean breaking gender expectations, like a woman who hunts and a man who knits (page 19). And in this historic election year, racial identity was on the minds of many in the Yo’ (page 6). Identity can restrict or emancipate, clarify or confuse. What we do know is that the grit of Youngstown is in our blood. We can deny the city’s image or use it to our advantage. Richard Louis Boccia

Sarah Sole

12 14 15 18 19

The Yo’ Magazine started in 2007 after students at Youngstown State University asked journalism faculty to help them obtain more experience writing and publishing magazinestyle stories. Professor Tim Francisco taught the first magazine writing class, which fall 2008

provided content for an early issue. YSU alumna and founding editor Cristina Cala shaped the concept for The Yo’ with early issues, the last of which won Best in Show from the Associated Collegiate Press at its Fall 2008 Convention in Kansas City.

23

Yo’ Celebrities how the city of grit made them strong More music A mainstream Christian rock revolution Exotic dancers Getting under their skin

Art inspired by the Yo’, these artists are getting national attention Gender roles undone She hunts, he knits

Profile Phil Kidd makes the case for Youngstown Yo’ Diary Coming to America: the dream gone bad

Life’s a Zou The band ran wild across America on tour, but here’s why they’ll always come back to their native habitat in the Yo’. By Doug Dierkes

A

s nice as life on the road has been for The Zou this year, with the free meals, songwriting and haunted hotels, the band admits it’s good to be home in Youngstown. The Zou has been on four “minitours” in 2008 alone, each lasting somewhere around two or three weeks. During this time they’ve filmed a music video waiting on a tow truck, set their van’s GPS to moo whenever a Dunkin Donuts is close enough, performed at two haunted hotels, and still had time to iron out some tracks for the new album in basements and studios across the country. “You’d be surprised at the kindness of people,” muses frontman Khaled

#

Tabbara as he recalls a story from the most recent tour. “We were skateboarding at a gas station in Florida, just dickin’ around to stretch our legs ... we start a conversation with this skater kid, and near the end of it he says, ‘I’m housesitting for this mansion, do you guys need a place to crash?’”

Still, it’s not quite the same as the Yo’. “I don’t think we could run our band the way we do in any other city,” admits bassist Murad Shorrab. “We’ve all got part-time jobs with flexible schedules, and everything’s cheap here. I have this beautiful apartment for $350 a month that would easily cost, like, $1,200 a month in New York. I’d never be able to leave as much as I do now if I had to pay $1,200 a month for rent. And then you have guys like Phil Kidd, making downtown

The Zou’s frontman Khaled Tabbara

Youngstown receivable to our music. I’ve never heard him say no [to our ideas.]” Tabbara adds, “We could never get to play in cities like Chicago with the ease that we do now if we lived in New York, either. We got [shows in] Toronto, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Detroit ... all within our reach because of Youngstown.” Besides letting them see the world outside the Yo’, this touring schedule has solidified the band’s identity. Back in its early days, Tabbara admits there wasn’t much of a band behind the name. He was basically a solo artist recruiting one-night performers to help flesh out his songs. “The current form has really only been together for the last two years, and we’ve only really gelled together as a band this year.” “You have no idea how much you’ll miss your bed once you leave,” Tabbara said.

 In the middle of Youngstown across from a U-Haul rental center sits a giant monstrosity of a building. One end proudly proclaims itself a postal service area — the lower sections show off metalworking machinery from the few windows that aren’t boarded up. And if you’re willing to take a ride up an old freight elevator to the second floor, you can find Ampreon Studios, a place that has been the nesting grounds of The Zou since 2004. The atmosphere in the studio is oddly relaxing as the prototype version of “Forget My Name” blasts from the speakers. Inside the recording area, vintage guitars line the wall over a classic piano, and posters from local concerts theyomag.com

of the Zou

line, “Jenny was a furnace? Well, now the song finally makes sense.” As laid-back as the mastering process is, the band admits the music is a labor of love. “You get out of it what you put into it,” Tabbara says. “We just keep putting more into our music, expecting it to plateau, but it doesn’t. The more energy you put into something, the more interesting it becomes. When you put as much time and effort into this as we have, when you finally get to that finished thing, you’re in love with it rather than just, ‘Oh, it’s cool.’” On stage, The Zou always manages to get a crowd dancing, clapping, singing — completely involved in the music. Off stage, they discuss what needs to be done with their new songs as much as how to make their old tunes better. Guitarist Rob Thorndike condenses these talks into a 30-cent notebook which the band uses to guide the recording process. This devotion to their sound comes at a price. Studio time, printing CDs and keeping the van fueled during tours all have their costs. Yet, The Zou comes out of this with another triumph. “We don’t have any financial backers ... we’re the only band I know that’s completely selfsustained,” Tabbara says. “We pay for our own albums, all of our gear and all the T-shirts we sell. We make money as a band that goes back into the band. It’s a punk rock kind of way to run a band, but it works for us.” Shorrab’s views are a little darker. “Getting to the point where we could give up our jobs and just be full-time musicians ... I don’t see that happening for us anytime in the near future.” But music runs in the veins of The Zou as much as caffeine. Khaled has won a few awards for his solo work as a singer/songwriter, Rob gives lessons at Hubbard Music when not playing for YSU’s jazz ensembles, and Dean conducts the drum line of the YSU Marching Band in his off hours. Murad works for the Oakland Center for the Arts, and shaves his

Photos courtesy

and the movie “Falling Down” stand out from the lime green paint. The production area is equally laid back. The couch is comfortably broken in, the walls are filled with images of classic rock musicians, and the only thing separating the digital mixer from the classic tape recorder is a wall of speakers, each one hand-wired by a former member of the Dead Boys. “We always record on tape first, then transfer everything to digital,” Tabbara says. “You can’t recreate that kind of distortion with anything digital. It comes off sounding cold.” As fans continue to catch the band in concert, or download their “Pinebox EP” for free on MySpace, The Zou is hard at work finishing their latest album for its Nov. 29 release. “We’re calling it ‘Archaeopteryx’ right now,” Shorrab says. “It was one of those fossils that was found ... it had the bones of a dinosaur, but there were remnants of feathers. It was almost like a snapshot of a transitory period, kind of like where we are now.” Tabbara also likes the image because evolution, like the band’s songwriting, is a constant process. “You’re out there trying new things every night — sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But our songs are always evolving, always changing, and when we put out a record it’s almost like we’re taking a snapshot, as if to say, ‘This is what it sounds like at this moment.’ But we’re always experimenting with our sound.” Everything about this mastering session shows how comfortable The Zou is working together. Conversations frequently switch from, “What are we recording next?” to “I feel like Olivia-Newton John now that I’m wearing this headband,” without skipping a beat. Murad tunes in his bass guitar by playing an unplugged version of the “Debbie Does Dallas” theme music, and Dean Anshutz tests the recording setup for his drum kit by playing “Max Weinberg-style.” This starts a ten-minute conversation on Bruce Springsteen, including the

beard every year for a performance of “How the Drag Queen Stole Christmas.” As a whole, the members have also given musical contributions to a Beatles tribute album and the Youngstown-made movie “Fine Tune.” “Even if we had our instruments taken away, we’d still find some way to express ourselves,” Tabbara says. “We’re a bunch of creative, artistic people, and we’d find some way of getting our message heard. If not through music, then poetry or painting.” The Zou is also optimistic about the future of Youngstown. “We have these great resources like Mill Creek Park and the Mahoning River ... and we take them for granted,” Shorrab states. “We have far too many people out there still defining us as ‘Steel Town’ or ‘Murder Town.’ That’s in the past. Once we find something to define ourselves in the present and in the future ... we’ll be unstoppable.” *

“I don’t think we could run our band the way we do in any other city.” — bassist Murad Shorrab fall 2008

#

It’s not a black-and-white issue.

e c a r g n i t a g i t s Inve

IN COLOR By Cristina Cala Photography by Juliana Cala

FAMILY PORTRAIT — Tina Fleisher, a YSU social work student, holds an Obama sign in protest of a campus appearance by John McCain for a live broadcast of “Good Morning America” days before the presidential election. Fleisher brought her children, including son Darnell Jones, pictured behind her, to the event. 6

theyomag.com

T

ina Fleisher is prepared to be judged. She has a sweet softness about her once she gets talking, and though she’s a good mom, she may be feeling a little shy today about bringing her children with her to a place she knows she’ll stick out like a sore thumb. The whites of her eyes flash bright against the beautifully dark skin on her round face as she gingerly leads her flock, single-file, into a gymnasium echoing with the sounds of patriotic marching band music and screaming cheers. The crowd that has gathered is ornamented with McCain-Palin signs and “Nobama” T-shirts, and Fleisher, 36, stands behind it in a secluded corner, inching closer to the outskirts of the entrance after a few minutes. Her ducklings are as young as 6 or 7 and as old as 18, holding homemade Obama signs, their brown faces studying the crowd, knowing that they’re out of their element here.

Aside from an odd glance or two, no one seems to notice. The crowd neither dismisses nor acknowledges the black family who has come to Youngstown State University to protest an appearance by Republican John McCain four days before the end of his run against the first black man in American history to secure a major party nomination in a presidential election. The only recognition the family gets is an “Excuse me, can I help you?” from a police officer who sticks his pale hand in front of the family as they try to pass. As a black woman with seven kids in a world of stereotypes, Fleisher is sure to emphasize that she’s married to a wonderful husband. In that same world, she is looking for change. Four days from the 2008 general election, Fleisher acknowledged that more minority voters were energized in this election than ever before, but

said it’s because Obama’s the right candidate. “I feel more minority voters are coming out because they feel that he would be a better candidate, someone who is going to bring change to our country. That’s what we need,” she said. Obama’s overwhelming support from  minorities — and how much that support has to do with race — coincides with the dismal state of the country and the need to fix it, in Democrat Fleisher’s opinion. “Now that we have a black man running for president, a lot of them [are] saying, ‘OK, here’s change. It’s time for change now, and we’re gonna get out, and now we’re gonna vote,” Fleisher said. “It’s about what’s right, doing the right thing and electing someone that’s gonna come in and make a difference.”

The America that elected its first black president

show. Mahoning County exit polls revealed the most support for Obama in the area, and its county has the greatest black population at 15.3 percent to 81.1 white, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But Dr. Bill Binning, professor and chair emeritus of YSU’s political science department, stresses that the reason Obama won overwhelmingly Caucasian counties is because of “great organization” by the Obama campaign, not race. County elections boards’ exit polls don’t give data on racial ratios, and Binning warns not to make assumptions about race in the 2008 election. “You take something away from Obama’s brilliant campaign and massive victory if you make the discussion of the election mainly about race,” Binning said. Though Mahoning and Trumbull reached an Obama verdict, Binning said those counties underperformed on turnout. In Democratic Valley territory, voter turnout was 71 percent in Mahoning and just under 70 percent in Trumbull. (Turnout was 67.86 percent in Columbiana, where McCain won.) “Obama made it up elsewhere in Ohio and won counties that Democrats seldom win,” Binning said of how Obama won Ohio, with a 4 percent lead. Obama‘s candidacy did increase black turnout that benefited many other Democrats, in some Congress races, he added. It is true that blacks usually vote in favor of Democrats, Binning said. But still, the discussion is all

relative. Blacks make up about 13 percent of the U.S. population, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, but even if all blacks voters supported Obama, their numbers wouldn’t have been enough to elect him. In total, Binning offered, whites voted 43 percent for Obama, blacks voted 95 percent in his favor, and Latinos voted 66 percent for him. Traditionally, a greater percentage of whites vote, and this year whites still outnumbered the other racial groups who cast a presidential vote, but by considerably less, The Associated Press reported Nov. 4. An increase in black and Hispanic voting decreased the number of white voters in the electorate from 81 percent in 2000 to 74 percent in 2008, according to the AP report’s Harvard-professor source. There’s more to it than just demographics, though. “Race cuts both ways — it helps in some ways for Obama and Democrats, and in some way it held back votes,” Binning said. “But don’t lose sight of the fact that the election was about economics and not race. A majority of Americans wanted change.” Though to some in Youngstown, the change Obama offers is both for economic progress and the progression of a race that has faced oppression. This is a country whose white founders brought Africans to serve centuries of slavery and whose public was segregated until only half a century ago. This is a country where black culture and pop culture have mixed, and now it’s a country that has elected its first mixed-race president.

We all know what happened next. As a biracial candidate, Barack Obama was a contender whose two parts made whole for black and white America. But what about for the tri-county area? How did Obama win Ohio, and who is the America that elected a black man as its leader? Obama turned Ohio blue for the first time since Bill Clinton’s presidency, but the state’s voters are mixed, and though the steel labor days of yore make the Mahoning Valley traditionally Democratic, final, unofficial county polls show that one of three counties here did prefer the Republican from Arizona to the Democrat from Illinois. Demographically speaking, the Columbiana County that favored McCain has a mostly white, 43 percent rural population. Columbiana is 2.2 percent black and 95.2 percent white, the U.S. Census Bureau reports. With a greater black population than Columbiana, Trumbull County — 8.2 percent black and 89.7 percent white, according to the Census Bureau — favored Obama to McCain, Trumbull elections board unofficial poll results fall 2008

7

She’s been waiting Youngstown Obama supporter Jacqueline Thomas, 58, predicted he would win. “We’re not into race so much anymore as we’re into people,” Thomas said, relieved that “America has finally opened up.” But the middle-aged black woman can remember when race significantly mattered. It was a big deal when black people were first on TV, a rare deal when her dad was in the infantry in World War II, a gruesome deal when Jackie Robinson’s baseball career began with boos and heckling. “On Sundays when Ed Sullivan came on if The Temptations were on, [or] somebody, we’d run — you know, tell everybody in the neighborhood — you know, ‘Black people gon’ be on TV tonight!’” Now, it’s nothing to see blacks on TV, and Thomas expected the first black president to win over America in the Oval the way Robinson did on the diamond. “At first they hated him; they booed; they threw paper at him. But once he went to winning them games, they realized, ‘OK, well, we really don’t care what color he is,’” she said of Robinson’s debut as the first black Major League Baseball player in 1947. “This is America: We have to quit caring about what color people are. We’re all mixed up.”

A R CE Obama:

Symbol of the past, enigma of the present, sign of the future

As progressive as his election is on a historical timeline, Barack Obama is somewhat of an enigma in American politics. Certainly, he is a symbol. Of what and to whom is diverse. To a middle-aged woman of color like Thomas, Obama represents a shift in attitudes, a chance for an abolishment of prejudices, a voice that went unheard during her upbringing. “In the younger generation, I don’t think it matters so much anymore. You look around this university, you see blacks and whites and Asians,” she said in front of YSU’s Beeghly Center after an Oct. 17 Change We Need Rally, where Hillary Clinton stumped for the man to whom she lost the Democratic nomination. “They’re grouping together and playing together.” Whether racial prejudices will die off with the baby boomers depends upon if their children and grandchildren still believe in what their elders taught them, Thomas said. “But a lot of those children, too, once they go off to college, they find out that that’s a bunch of crap. Things are gonna change,” she said. To a mother going to school and raising a family in economically struggling Youngstown, Obama

8

represents change in a damaged country whose future is uncertain. That’s how Fleisher sees him. To her young son, 18year-old Darnell Jones, Obama represents hope for the future, he says — hope that anyone can have, no matter his background or skin color.

‘Acting white’ To New York Times blogger Stephen J. Dubner, Obama represents diversity without actually representing diversity’s reality. Three days after Obama won the presidential election, Dubner posted a brief musing on the “acting white” theory, supported by scholars like Roland Fryer of Harvard. The theory suggests why some students might avoid activities like education or ballet: so that they’re not seen as trying to act like a white person, which has penalties in some neighborhoods. Twisting that theory, could it be possible that white people like Obama because they think he “acts” more white than black? YSU senior Joe Iesue is a white American, a die-hard conservative and, as a student of political science, an Obama campaign admirer. He thinks the notion is ridiculous. “I don’t think Obama acts anything but himself. … I think it’s sad when people feed into stereotypes

of what a white person acts like and what a black person acts like,” Iesue, 23, said. “It’s sad we want to give credit for his success only to his color of skin.” theyomag.com

In a pre-election appearance on MTV, Obama said, “Brothers should pull up their pants,” and stop showing their underwear: something a white politician like John McCain would not get away with on national television during an election. If Barack Obama’s family dynamics were swapped with Sarah Palin’s, it wouldn’t take much imagination to conceive Americans’ perception of a black First Family with five children, one an infant and one an unwed pregnant teen. If Obama were white as opposed to biracial, YSU freshman K’rin Simon, 18, is unsure whether it would have made a favorable difference for him in his run for president. “I don’t know. … The people that I know would probably look differently at him,” said Simon, an Independent Pennsylvania voter who said she knows people who vocalized that Obama’s skin color disqualified their vote. A white Obama would probably have had an easier time getting the votes of more whites, Republicans and Democrats, in Simon’s opinion, “because there’s a lot of racist people, still.” Barack Obama won America’s approval with a traditional, nuclear family, degrees from Columbia and Harvard, a Harvard-grad wife, a 10year teaching position at University of Chicago Law School, according to the Chicago Tribune, and a career as a community organizer. He’s been regarded as eloquent and compared to JFK by the media and peers. Pop culture has even had something to say about the GOP’s last two presidential nominees, too. Oliver Stone gave an almostempathetic look into the life of the Bush-family black sheep with the 2008 film “W.” — a tale of alcoholism, party days at Yale, job-jumping and a misguided presidency. The blogging community has swirled with allegations that McCain finished in the bottom of his United States Naval Academy graduating class, cheated on his first wife, left her for a younger woman, displayed discipline problems, crashed several planes during his military career, and publicly exhibited a hot temper. In a lineup of three with those respective characteristics and the same skin color, would a choice be more obvious? A philosophy and sociology major, YSU sophomore Mark Hoelzel fall 2008

thinks the choice is specific to the demographics of an area, and might be less obvious in one like Youngstown, where he says racial divisions occur. Hoelzel, 20, spoke to The Yo’ Magazine before Sen. Clinton took center stage at her campus rally two-and-a-half weeks before the election. In Hoelzel’s opinion, a Youngstown bias and ethnic roots to the area were making Valley voters “feel racist.” He said these ethnic identities — his nice way of saying why racial divisions here occur — make Youngstown one of the few areas where Democrats were opting to vote for McCain because of something like race. Not speaking for the whole state of Ohio and careful not to blame Youngstown, Hoelzel says the city just “happens to be” one of the areas where racial divisions could matter enough to cost a minority candidate an election. And yet, Youngstown elected a black mayor — the first here — in 2004. Mayor Jay Williams spoke to The Yo’ Magazine four days before the election, at a Bill Clinton rally for Obama at Campbell Memorial High School. Williams reminds that if your audience is mixed, you have to appeal to more than one group. Race is something that Youngstown and Ohio struggle with, the mayor said. “The message I’ve tried to take is, ‘Youngstown has been here, and done this.’ The fact that I was elected the first African-American mayor of the city of Youngstown — it wasn’t because Youngstown is [a] majority black. I had to appeal to blacks, obviously, but I also had to appeal to whites. So to me, Youngstown can set the stage of breaking those molds and breaking those paradigms and send a message to the greater Mahoning Valley and to the state of Ohio.”

Listening for color One month till Election Day, Early Voting in Ohio, YSU campus

If you can hear it, it’s over whispers, inside private living rooms, among inner circles ... or it’s nowhere to be found. The voting motive of race is, in reality, barely audible at all. Open Obama supporters were optimistic about a party victory on sunny Oct. 6, as Siri De Licori

sat at YSU, guitar in lap, hoping to shuttle a maximum of Ohioans to the Mahoning County board of elections to register and/or vote early. By the second-to-last shift of the fourth day of a Youngstown stint at Vote Today Ohio, a self-dubbed nonpartisan, voter outreach effort, only three people had jumped on the bandwagon with shuttle driver De Lecori, of Los Angeles. De Licori was optimistic in his cause, and in his support of Obama, but general on the race issue. He described the organization’s successful recruits as a “mixture” of races, and the target demographic as “obviously” college students, and even some professors. Meanwhile AP reports were calling Vote Today Ohio’s efforts unmatched by a Republican counterpart, and published photographs, in cities like Columbus, of inner-city black voters as part of the outreach endeavor. De Licori’s view on race on the presidential ballot is that it’s been made into one invariable. “You can’t help but see the color of the skin,” he said, his own paling in the bright afternoon sun. Despite that inevitable recognition, “Barack and his campaign have not campaigned on that.” In Time magazine’s Nov. 17 list of “10 Things That Never Happened Before” the 2008 campaign, No. 6 calls the past four decades in American politics “truly revolutionary” — citing greater numbers of minority elected officials, greater voter participation of nonwhites, and Shirley Chisholm, Jesse Jackson and Alan Keyes running for president. And now with the U.S.’s first black president-elect, Time adds Obama to the list of the revolutionary, with one exception to the previous political progress by minorities: “Not only was race not Obama’s signature dimension by any measure, but — with the exception of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy — it was barely an issue at all.” Responding to a Time magazine article on the Obama camp’s coolman strategy to avoid portraying an “angry-black-man image,” De Licori pooh-poohs the magazine’s assertion as an “old stereotype.” “Martin Luther King Jr. got it right when he said judge a man by his character, not the color of his skin.” As a landmark, De Licori is sure, Obama “is here for the content of his character.”

A Campus Conservative

... Going Blue? Let’s talk change. With Joe Iesue. He’s a senior political science and sociology major who’s been known as a conservative on YSU’s campus and in its student newspaper, The Jambar, for the last four-and-a-half years. But four days before Election Day, Iesue told The Yo’ Magazine that he was still undecided. Iesue supported George W. Bush through both terms. “My campaign is against liberal ideology,” Iesue said over background cheers from a “Good Morning America” crowd at YSU, where John McCain was making an appearance for the live broadcast. Yet Iesue, 23, was considering Barack Obama. “When the party even goes against its own loyalties, it could be time to sit there and say its time to go shopping,” he said, suggesting that he might be doing some of his own on the left side of the spectrum. What had the student who calls himself a “conservative first, Republican second” considering voting for Obama, ranked by the National Journal as one of the most liberal senators? For one, McCain was not his first choice. But what’s worth marveling is the notion that Obama’s ubiquitous slogan of “change” was at work in a conservative. “We keep going to our safe areas … going to only that party and pulling only that party’s lever. That’s not bringing about a positive change,” Iesue said. Was he considering achieving that change by voting for a Democrat for the first time? “I like to vote for what I feel is the most important to American people and if that means to vote for a Democrat, if that means to vote for a third party, if that means to vote for a Republican, then so be it, I’ll do it,” Iesue said. By the end of the interview, he had come back to home base. “Right now the principle of conservatism goes most in line with the Republican Party so that’s where I stay right now.” The postelection verdict: John McCain. Iesue said it was “close down to the wire,” but McCain’s “war experience and compassion for our men and women in uniform was the deciding factor for me.” –Cristina Cala

#

“[A classmate] was just completely yelling at me for voting for McCain because he was white, and he called me several names for that.”

10 1 9 “There is still racism, and that needs to be addressed. ... But I think those numbers are in the minority, and you can’t overstate those.”

— Christa Parks on political intolerance

— Mark Hoelzel

1. Mark Hoelzel, 20, Independent Is race a factor? Yes. Should it be? It’s a testament to progress. OK to cross party lines? Yes. But not in instances where racism is what’s pushing Democrats to McCain, which is a phenomenon for this area. 2. Casey Fitch, 18, Republican Is race a factor? Yes. Should it be? No. OK to cross party lines? No. Main motive should be: Issues. OK to consider race as a factor? No. 3. Justin Blair, 18, Democrat Is race a factor? Not at all. Anybody can run for president. Should it be? No. OK to cross party lines? If you liked the other party’s candidate’s policies. Main motive should be: Issues. OK to consider race as a factor? Yes. 4.Andrea Armeni, 20, Republican Is race a factor? No. 5. Stephen Cline, 21, Republican who crossed party lines Is race a factor? Yes. Should it be? No. Vote for the best candidate. OK to cross party lines? Everybody has the right to vote for who they want. Main motive should be: The best candidate. OK to consider race as a factor? No. 6. John Jerome, 20, no affiliation Is race a factor? Yes. Hopefully not in Youngstown but it is down South.

2

3

5

“I’m a Republican voting for Barack Obama. ... I can identify with him more.” — Stephen Cline

8

7

–Cristina Cala

Students on race’s role in voting

4

10

7. Joni Koneval, 20, Democrat Is race a factor? It has been in the past, but it’s shifting. There are racist people out there, but it’s not the major factor. Should it be? No. OK to consider race as a factor? Yes. 8. Russ Waller, 23, Democrat Is race a factor? Yes. Should it be? No. OK to cross party lines? Not if it’s racially motivated. 9. Christa Parks, 19, Republican Is race a factor? Yes. Should it be? No. OK to cross party lines? Not for her, personally. Main motives should be: Issues, content of character. OK to consider race as a factor? It should be about the issues. 10. Darnell Jones, 18, Democrat Is race a factor? Yes. They won’t vote for who they want to vote for. They only vote for their skin color. Should it be? It’s good that Obama’s race brought record numbers of minorities out. Main motive should be: Change. OK to consider race as a factor? Yes. If you vote for who you want to vote for and who you know is right.

6

“People who are not voting for Barack Obama are going to justify why they feel people may not be voting for [McCain] instead. I don’t think it’s necessarily racist that minorities are supporting Barack Obama. ... You could say that McCain supporters are only voting for McCain because he’s white. — Joni Koneval President of YSU College Democrats

YSU Dems on Race Two-and-a-half weeks till Election Day Change We Need Rally with Hillary Clinton YSU Beeghly Center

Before Obama won Ohio and the presidency, Time’s Oct. 20 issue published poll results that reported the majority of polled voters saying race is not a factor in their vote but it still matters to others. Forty-four percent said they knew someone less likely to vote for Obama because of his race; 54 percent said they didn’t. In a crowd anticipating main speaker Clinton, stumping for Obama at YSU, 18-year-old Justin Blair would have fit into the majority polled by Time. He said he didn’t believe people were voting based on race. YSU freshman Blair, who is black, said he didn’t know anyone who had said they wouldn’t vote for Barack Obama because of his race. On why he backed Obama, he said, “I feel that he could bring more jobs to this area, and my parents can get better health care.” Blair said he doesn’t think there’s a difference in the way that blacks and whites perceive Obama. “I think it’s the same, about the same. Most people like Barack,” Blair said, describing which groups might be more likely to vote for Obama regionwide, statewide and nationwide. Standing with Blair, YSU grad student Russ Waller offered a more moderate view on race’s affect on the vote. Waller, who is white, agreed that race is not the overriding factor though it plays a role. “I know a few people who won’t vote for Obama because of his race, who are — who call — themselves Democrats,” the 23-year-old said before the election. “Most people who would not vote for a black candidate would not be a Democrat to begin with,” Waller said. Waller did agree with Blair that blacks were not just voting for Obama’s skin color — because Obama didn’t have most of the black vote “when he first threw his hat into the race, and I think he really earned their vote” based on issues, Waller said, bringing to mind a Democratic-primary turning point when Obama won Iowa, 95 percent white, over Clinton.

YSU Repubs on Race Three days till Election Day, ‘Good Morning America’ with John McCain appearance, YSU Beeghly Center

But McCain supporters rivaled Waller and Blair’s views, on the reverse side of the black-and-white color coin, at the YSU segment of “Good Morning America.” Student Casey Fitch, like Waller, said that while she’s sure race is a factor, it shouldn’t be. But 18-year-old Fitch alleges that it is the black demographic that is doing so. “You have a lot of people who normally don’t vote who purposely do go to the voting polls for Barack Obama, in particular, because of their race, and they blatantly say it, so how can you say race isn’t a factor in voting?” said Fitch, who is white, in the 6 a.m. chill of a long line curling outside of the “GMA” broadcast site. On the flip side, Fitch, a registered Republican there to see McCain, supposed that some whites were planning to vote for McCain to avoid electing a black man as president. “I think you will see a little bit of that, but a lot of it is overcompensation for the fact … that black voters are going out and doing that. But I think

it’s more prominent, probably, in the ethnic voters than it is in the white voters, only because they are the ethnic race,” she said. To Fitch, the only voting motive should be platform issues. While the majority of those interviewed agreed with Fitch that issues ought to be the overriding factor, several said it was OK to factor in race, gender and likeability, if voters wanted to feel represented. In other words, why women might support Clinton or Palin, why war veterans might support McCain or why minorities might support Obama. While waiting in line for “Good Morning America,” YSU student and McCain supporter Christa Parks recounted a pre-election encounter where she experienced intolerance from a classmate. She said the “ethnic” person yelled at her, incensed that she planned to vote for McCain, and demanding why. “I’m conservative; I’m from the country; my dad hunts; my boyfriend [is] in the Marine Corps. — he’s going to be going to Afghanistan this coming year before the summer’s over. I’d feel a lot more comfortable with John McCain in office while he’s over there … seeing that he’s had experience, whereas Obama wants to pull everybody out. My boyfriend has just gotten back from Iraq, and he said there’s no way that we’re ever gonna be completely out of there, unless they start coming over here,” Parks said. In turn, the reasons Parks’ classmate gave for supporting Obama were, in Parks’ eyes, insufficient. “‘I’m voting for Obama because he’s black, and if McCain gets elected I’m gonna go back to Africa,’” Parks quoted her classmate as saying, “that, and that he agreed with the taxes Obama was gonna impose.” “And he didn’t have any other argument, and he was just completely yelling at me for voting for McCain because he was white, and he called me several names for that,” she said, laughing uncomfortably, with a wounded look in her eyes and an insulted look on her face. Parks is confident that this encounter shows a Youngstown trend of racial voting. Does she see something wrong with that? Drawing a breath as if to choke back a sigh, Parks settled on the answer, “You should look at the actual candidates — how they feel about issues as opposed to what color they are ...” she stumbled off. Conservatives Parks and Fitch stood by their belief that minority Obama supporters were supporting him because he shared their race. Their Republican ideals simply really aligned with those of McCain, who happens to be white. Inside Beeghly Center, Fleisher’s eldest son, Darnell Jones, was bashful but proud about protesting McCain and voting for the first time. The 18-year-old Chaney High senior knew why he was planning to vote for Obama, and it wasn’t because of the color of the politician’s skin, a few shades lighter than Jones’. “I’m voting for Barack Obama because I’m just lookin’ for change, in our schools, our jobs. [I] wanna better the future, for my future, my kids’ future — just want to help look out for my little brothers as they [are] growing up [so] that they won’t have it so hard,” said Jones, four of his siblings standing close by. If Obama can solidify his promise of change to young voters like Jones, they may become the force behind an end to America’s long Republican run, professor Binning says. And while for some voters race mattered against Obama’s favor, his promise to heal economic wounds is what prevailed in his election, however historic. “Obama did not make it about race, and that is why he won,” said Binning.*

“Obama did not make it about race, and that is why he won.” –Bill Binning, YSU poli-sci professor 11

murdered. In her junior year, one of her classmates was shot in the head. Another classmate was killed and thrown in the trunk of a car. Despite the danger she faced, the Yo’ native wouldn’t change her upbringing, which she describes in her new book, “The Bitch Switch,” as an education in “the school of hard knocks.” “I’m a strong tell-it like-it-is, don’t-take-no-for-an-answer kind of girl. And I would not have been that way had it not been for growing up in Youngstown,” she says. While the Yo’s crime has Omarosa Manigault Stallworth spawned the term “Youngstown Tune-Up” and won the city the titles Murdertown, USA and “the armpit of the state,” celebrities like Omarosa, Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini and Ed O’Neill have used their hometown’s t was a late walk home when grit to fuel their own powerful Omarosa ran into some personas. girls looking to pick a fight. Though her life in Youngstown Counting five of them and one often included trips to her uncle’s of her, the future reality show farm, it’s the city’s intimidating diva quickly realized that talking rather than fighting was her way out. image that’s stuck to Omarosa. “Oh, that explains why you’re so “Really, is this going to solve anything?” she asked her enemies, tough,” they’d say of the girl who grew up in the former West Lake refusing to show the fear she knew projects. they craved. This was a persona that landed Before the cameras started rolling, before the Donald, Omarosa Manigault Stallworth was already a negotiator. More often than not, she talked her way out of becoming a statistic. While attending The Rayen High School from 1992 to 1996, about 20 of Omarosa’s classmates were

Learning to talk tough

Illustration by Sarah Sole and Richard Louis Boccia, photos courtesy of the subjects

I

her two trash-talking spots on reality show “The Apprentice,” where she soon attained a pop culture status of the sort that is forever immortalized on YouTube. “I did not play the girl next door for sure on that show,” she admits. For her book, the reality show star put the straight-talking negotiating skills that she honed in the Yo’ to work in writing and marketing.

Standing up and punching back When former boxer Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini was a young child in the Yo’, the steel mills were thriving. While he admired the blue-collar blood that ran in his family, he knew from 5 years old that he didn’t fit that mold. He never thought of another future except that of a fighter. By the time Mancini achieved professional lightweight boxing status in 1978, Youngstown was in a shabby state, its abandoned steel mills blemishes in a decaying town.

Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini

In the early ’80s, unemployment was high, and as Mancini puts it, “the town was on its ass.” People were looking for something to hold onto and Mancini became their guy. “My style was emblematic of the city,” Mancini explains. “Take a few shots, but I’m gonna give you more shots than I take.” The people back home lived vicariously through Boom Boom as he fought his way around the world. That support from the Yo’ was a large part of his success. “The people helped carry me a

lot further than my body wanted to go sometimes,” he says. While Mancini was achieving fame, holding the World Boxing Association lightweight championship for two years, the condition of his city better matched that of his beaten opponents. “The stigma was that we were a town that ... didn’t know how to get back up,” he says. Even now, stereotypes still stand. When Mancini mentions Youngstown, comments of “Oh, that’s a rough area,” follow. Still, the fighter remains fiercely loyal to his hometown. “We’re survivors in Youngstown. We’ll always survive,” he says.

Laughing in the face of crime Ed O’Neill admits that the Yo’ was not the easiest place to make a living, but it was a good place to get away with a crime. The Yo’ often lived up to its nickname of Mobtown, USA. “There was nothing you couldn’t do and get away with if you knew the right people,” O’Neill says. Only by leaving the north side

By Sarah Sole

of Youngstown, where he spent his teenage years, did O’Neill realize it was possible to get in trouble for a crime. There were no DUIs in the Yo’ when he was young. O’Neill knew people who shot others in bars and got away with it — the city would move the charge down to manslaughter and eventually, it would be completely forgotten. A priest he knew was a bagman for a gangster. “You kind of get a thick skin,” O’Neill says. The actor later made his fortune on a 10-year run playing Al Bundy on show “Married ... with Children,” indirectly channeling the pessimism that permeated Youngstown in his youth. His Al Bundy character on the show was based on his uncle Joe’s self-deprecating humor. This sort of negative expectation that Joe had was evident in the locals based on what they saw every day. Bundy representated people who, as O’Neill puts it, were “just keeping their heads above water.” While his character was a bluecollar caricature, O’Neill admits that the Yo’ has always been similarly stereotyped. The city itself may soon capitalize on its gritty image, though less overtly.

and zip codes of every homicide that happened during his time in office. The city’s Web site carries the same distressed aesthetic, boasting an unofficial name change for the city — “Braddocc” — and a shout-out to creative class members everywhere. There’s also a page called “Ruins” that features pictures of abandoned buildings, hauntingly beautiful in their decay. Braddock also put its abandoned spaces to creative use. An outdoor brick oven sits on their main street with a blast Ed O’Neill furnace as a backdrop. The practice is something Kidd thinks could be You can’t market grittiness — replicated in Youngstown, and the rather, people attuned to that city may already have a parallel: atmosphere want to discover it an abandoned church now has on their own as an escape from independent films shown on its smothering commercialism. This is altar. Phil Kidd’s theory, one that got him With Braddock embracing its a job as Youngstown city director of tough image and finding ways to events and marketing. He became make do, Kidd sees that the Yo’ can the Yo’s mouthpiece by creating the Defend Youngstown movement, and embrace what it has rather than striving to get a Starbucks, Bed Bath has found an example for the Yo’ to & Beyond and white picket fences. follow. “You don’t want McCitizen living Enter Braddock, Pa., a city of in McCity,” he explains. 2,500 that lost nearly 90 percent Youngstowners know their scars of its population when steel towns well. They appreciate the fight here, rusted over. The city’s creative he says, and remain fiercely loyal to rebirth started when it elected a gritty mayor who resembles a biker. their hometown. The Yo’s future, according to Kidd? Braddock’s political leader sports “It’s attracting people who tattoos on his arms with the dates create versus people who want to consume,” he says. * Read more about Kidd and how he sees Youngstown bouncing back on page 23.

How growing up in the city of grit made these celebrities strong 12

13

C

hristian music has come a long way from the days of DC Talk’s song “Jesus Freak.” Christian bands today often write their songs while subtly hinting to their religion. Family Force 5, previously known as “The Phamily” is proud to be part of the transition. “There is a major revolution taking place in this thing that we call ‘Christian music,’ and Family Force 5 is honored to be a part of it,” said guitarist Derek Mount, who is better known by his stage name “Chap Stique.” Family Force 5, or simply FF5, consists of Solomon “Soul Glow Activatur” Olds, Jacob “Crouton” Olds, Joshua “Fatty” Olds, Derek “Chap Stique” Mount, and Nathan “Nadaddy” Currin. Being in a Christian band often comes with the territory of having a

squeaky-clean reputation. Drugs and alcohol have become increasingly popular vices for bands that need inspiration. Kenny Vasoli, formerly of the band “The Startling Line,” has stated in several interviews that he writes his best music when he is high. For Family Force 5, being a Christian band in a mainstream world is important and exciting. Drummer and backup vocalist Jacob Olds, said, “I think it’s important for Christian bands to be in the mainstream media. We feel like if we only played in churches we would not be able to get our message out. Sometimes as Christians we need to play at bars so that everyone can at least hear about our message and our religion.” Mount also added that if they limited themselves to churches they would be missing out on a lot. Touring life has exhausted other bands, and in some cases it has caused bands to lose members

Story and photograph by Sam Marhulik

14

or break up. For the members of Family Force 5, it may be even harder due to the fact that three of the members are brothers. For Olds, touring with his family means having a great time with his best friends. “Sometimes it’s hard, but you definitely learn how to tolerate each other and you always have your family with you when you need it,” he said. Mount also has had some great experiences while touring. “It’s incredible. We’ve met great bands and we have made some great friends in the process. Our Christian views are never put out for people to make jokes at, and there is never any peer pressure when we hang out with the other bands,” he said. Humor is a big inspiration for the band. Mount said he likes to do crazy, random things to get himself in his happy place. “I like to watch crazy videos that put me in a good mood. Lately I have been watching the Star Wars Holiday Special to get a good laugh

and it always puts me in a good mood,” said Mount. “On a more serious level, though, sometimes I just like to escape and maybe dress like an alien.” Olds, like most other band members, often cites the fans as his source of inspiration. “I believe that the kids are the root of our inspiration; they come to see FF5 for the experience. They know it’s not going to be a typical show where we just stand around and play music, but what they are going to get is a good time and a lot of booty shakin.’” For a Christian band, faith is something that is important to each member. FF5 looks at their faith as the glue that holds them together. “We are just normal people. We are going to make mistakes regardless of what happens. That’s the beauty of faith in that when something bad happens, you know you can and will be forgiven. Our faith leads us and because of it we want everyone in this band to do well in all aspects of their life,” said Mount.*

They’re mainstream. They perform at bars. Welcome to the Christian rock revolution.

theyomag.com

H

lonely performance Baring their skin but not their souls, these dancers have their reasons to keep men coming back for more. By Jessica Woods Illustrations by Kristy Chen

fall 2008

er eyes are her most bewitching feature. Goldengreen, witchy and glittering. They lure, entrance. She speaks volumes through them but few are smart enough to listen and see the calculating hate behind them. She walks through the dark, gently avoiding chairs and customers. The strobes frequently hit her lips, eyes, and shiny black hair. People say, “that’s Maria.” And she keeps up the pretense. Never let them see you down. Always smiling. Always captivating. She stares at the wall while he gratuitously palms her hips, as though $220 is justification for his actions. He grabs her head and tries to suck her earlobe. She smells onions, alcohol, cigars and sweat. It takes all her willpower to stay put, keep dancing, feign the moment, not hit him and cry and yell and vomit. And he isn’t even the worst one. Not just anybody can be a dancer, an entertainer, or an enchantress. Anyone can take their clothes off on stage, bounce their ass and spread their legs. It takes an artist to keep them coming back, to keep them enthralled. And the energy it expends is maddening. This is just a taste of their world. Not even a glimpse, but more like a cinematic snapshot on a continuous reel that has taken over their lives and perpetuates the self-loathing, the hate and disgust, the contempt and the insanity. The few of them who hold it all together without drugs, who keep their kids in nice clothes, who buy patio sets to entertain friends, who shop for Steve Madden shoes and get their nails done are a rare breed. Ariel, blond and curvy who returns home to her husband and little boy Tori, who loves her daughter but is compulsively 15

drawn to black, thuggish types. She is gorgeous, all dark hair and high cheekbones and toned legs from running track in high school. She goes home to her drug-dealing boyfriends. Maybe that’s all she thinks she deserves after five years in the business. “My head absolutely aches and I have stomach pain all the time, from the drinking, mostly, but also the late nights and lack of sleep. My wallet is usually fat and so that’s what I have to show for it. It is positively addicting. The rush of going home with four, five, six hundred dollars per night, stuffed in my red lace Victoria’s Secret bra, trading in the eightinch heels for another night,” sighs Maria, dragging deeply on her Marlboro. hese are the entertainers of Tiffany Dolls Cabaret in North Lima, Ohio. They do not like to be called strippers. Some of them have been dancing for years. And they are wildly successful. But what their clients do not know is that they are also students. And their peers and professors do not know they dance. “It’s definitely a double life. It’s an interesting dichotomy to be all these personas wrapped into one package. A mother, a girlfriend, a student, and then you come here on the weekend and have to turn it all off and be something completely different, a fantasy that you don’t always feel like playing,” said Maria, 24, a Spanish student and single mother who has been dancing for 18 months. But they aren’t all single moms. Jayden has just turned 19 and still wears braces on her teeth, a feature that can both work with her or against her. She waits tables in Boardman at Buffalo Wild Wings and majors in business at Youngstown State University. Her dancing is more

T

16

Maybe one day I can like myself again.

Is this what I’m worth? Is this what I am?

about having money to spend than supporting a family or paying student loans. She perks up, counting her money. She has just worked “day shift” from about 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. “I made 400 dollars today,” she brags, orthodontia glistening under the fluorescent lights of the dressing room, flashing her Cheshire-cat grin. But so empty inside. Naomi flies around the pole, moves akin to something from Cirque du Soleil. Her body has been likened to Shakira, ittybitty waist and large, lush hips and thighs. She is an English major, 28, and has been in the business for seven years. She is articulate and wellspoken, with a penchant for consuming large amounts of white wine and champagne, vices to turn off her student’s brain and see her through a successful night.

None of these girls can perform at maximum capacity, act, deceive or hustle without help from a little something. She defies gravity, hanging from one shapely thigh, or spinning upward, blond hair whipping around her face to the sounds of raucous applause or catcalls. Her feats and style are worth much more than the five or eight dollars she collects from the floor, and they all know it. fter a while, a dancer isn’t able to turn it off just as well, and begins to judge her self-worth by how much money she makes a night. With the economy on a downturn, no one feels it as much as a dancer. Their money comes only from how much a man is willing to part with on a particular night, and men are fickle creatures. There are no paychecks here. “I’ve had men pay me to go

A

away,” Maria said, humiliation evident on her face. “This one time on stage, there were a bunch of guys, a bachelor party, I think, all sitting together. I remember it was an Ohio State game night and they were all wearing jerseys. The Bucks lost, and I guess this one guy felt compelled to belittle strippers as consolation. I remember crawling over to him, sexy-like, his friends were sort of cheering, but he started shaking his head and tossed a dollar on the stage and was like, ‘yeah, okay, I see you, that’s great, go away.’ I had about two minutes of a song left but I was so stunned I just walked off. I barely made it to the back before the tears came. Is this what I’m worth? Is this what I am? We all have these moments. But they hurt. And sometimes the bad outweighs the good moments, at least where selfesteem is concerned.” theyomag.com

D

ancers are battling stereotypes and boyfriends, and it is very easy to feel alone in this industry. Naomi has had a boyfriend for five years. “It is definitely harder to find dates. Men are reluctant. They see you as immoral, or inadequate,” she said. She and her boyfriend have had “trust issues” but they’ve reached a “compromise” and he is “supportive” now, she added. When asked if she feels trapped in the world of dancing, she said, “I don’t ever feel trapped. I can have the lifestyle I want and can still go to school, whereas with any other job, I couldn’t. And by lifestyle, I mean being comfortable, having a car that runs, eating something besides hot dogs and Ramen noodles.” She said she saw dancing as “an opportunity I gave a chance and ended up being successful at.” She said she has no plans to “retire” as the girls call it, but rather, “I’m happy to do it as long as I can.” Naomi has no children and plans to be an English professor and earn her master’s degree. Santana is long, lean and stunning. She is all finely-tuned legs and sharp angles, with cheekbones that could cut glass. Looking at her, one would never guess she has two girls under the age of four. She dances to rap or R&B, her mahogany hair and endless legs luring men to the stage. She reminisces over nights where she and Tori used to make “two or three grand” and “over one hundred thousand a year,” but have nothing to show for it now. “We spent it all, buying clothes, cars, going out to eat every day, it was ridiculous,” she said, laughing. She is finishing school to be a dental hygienist and has worked in the business off and on for five years. She and her children’s father have a volatile relationship, one that is on-again off-again with serious downs all the while. “It doesn’t help that I do this for a fall 2008

living,” she said, “but he doesn’t work and hasn’t for years.” The underlying theme with many dancers is their isolation, despite the camaraderie of the girls. Though they are constantly being touched, hounded for dates and pressured for “more,” their loneliness is evident in their eyes at the end of the night as they change back into their “street clothes” and pack the six or eight-inch stilettos and sequined gowns into their lockers.

“I can’t wait until the day I leave this all behind,” said Maria, unplugging her curling iron. Her black hair hangs in her face and catches on her lip gloss. She slips into Guess stilettos and grabs her keys. “I can’t wait to have a normal life with a job I can be proud of, a home I own and leave the past where it belongs. Maybe meet someone I can hold onto, someone who will actually love me back. That’s been the hardest thing, for me, is trying

to feel some element of respect for myself, to assuage the guilt and shame that comes with the territory of the industry, at least for some girls. But when I go home, I don’t want to be touched. I’m touched-out. I’m sexed-out, tired of always being this erotic creature who exists only to satisfy. Maybe one day I can like myself again. Be the woman I want my daughter to emulate.” But for now, there is money. And that will have to do.*

When I go home, I don’t want to be touched. I’m touched out.

17

t r a d e r i p s n i Yo’-

r o t s s ’ n w o t s g n Ar tists tell You

y

By Samantha Pysher In a back room of an art studio on Federal Plaza, Youngstown artist Ray Simon is hard at work. With a steady and sure hand, he carefully cuts a black matboard frame with an X-acto knife and places it atop one of his many prints, which have been seen by everyone from President Bush to Katie Couric. Simon’s inspiration is simple — growing up in Youngstown. “Our paintings are everywhere,” said Simon proudly. “Every year, the president passes out my paintings at the police memorial in Washington, D.C.” Simon has made prints from a Kelly Pavlik tribute to an “Operation Iraqi Freedom” print that features the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s statue, a little Iraqi girl waving an American flag, a jet and a group of soldiers and tanks. With the Pavlik “Forged in Fire, Iron, and Steel,” tribute painting, Simon said he wanted to replicate the environment that Pavlik grew up in. “I wanted to show the tough roots of Youngstown,” said Simon, who has worked out of his Federal Plaza studio since 1989. One year, Simon said he got the surprise of a lifetime when he received an e-mail from one of President Bush’s agents explaining that Bush wanted the “Fields of Freedom” painting for the White House. “Fields of Freedom,” one of Simon’s favorite paintings, shows an eagle with a light red, white and blue eye flying over a field that has a lightly airbrushed flag flowing over it. All of his hard work takes time, though. Simon

18

Simon

Barko

carefully researches the basis of the painting, such as the history behind the story and a four-week airbrushing frenzy begins. “All of my artwork has a reason,” Simon said humbly. “We love to tell stories with paintings.” Youngstown artist Bob Barko Jr. also draws inspiration from the Yo’. “I get so mad when people say bad things about Youngstown,” Barko said. “The truth is that we have a great place, and I want to show that.” One of Barko’s most recent creations, a brightly painted traveling mural 24 feet wide by 6 feet tall called “Here in Youngstown,” depicts a visual history of Youngstown, from Idora Park to the the Chevrolet Centre. The mural took over 100 hours to complete. “I designed the traveling mural to a scale that could be produced onto a building,” Barko said. Although he didn’t major in art, Barko found a way to leave his signature on YSU turf. Though it took him 10 years, he painted every single fire hydrant to look like a penguin. Recollecting his past prints, and leaning back in a 1950s style office chair, Barko said he released his first print, “Youngstown Skyline,” in 1996. Diligently drawing with colored pencil and ink for his smaller prints and paint for murals, Barko spends 20 hours on average per piece after extensive research. “The people that live here have a great nostalgia for the city,” said Barko, “and we have a great history.” *

theyomag.com

blurring gender roles Youngstown residents redefine stereotypes

Photo courtesy of Alyson Cadman

By Emmalee Torisk

Alyson Cadman, karate instructor, does forms at the Las Vegas Spring Nationals in February 2008. She placed third in the that part of the competition.

shooting down stereotypes

A

shley Bechtel knows a lot more women who would rather save Bambi than shoot him.

Nonetheless, the latter better describes this YSU freshman and accounting major, who has participated in whitetail deer hunting for around three or four years. So what inspired this otherwise traditional female to take up a sport so dominated by males? While growing up, Bechtel’s best friend’s parents were big hunters who took her and her friend to a hunter’s safety course. Through shooting their crossbow and her grandfather’s guns, Bechtel discovered she really enjoyed target practice. And later,

upon meeting her fiance, Eric, Bechtel really got into hunting and went out in the woods for the very first time. The experience was transformational, and Bechtel loved it. “I like being outside and seeing and hearing all of the things that you normally wouldn’t get a chance to see or pay attention to,” Bechtel said, adding that, in addition to deer, she’s seen foxes and coyotes while hunting in southeastern Ashtabula County. “It might seem like it would be boring, but you’re constantly on edge when you’re hunting. You have to be aware of everything that is going on around you — every sound and every movement. There is nothing more exciting for me than having a buck come within range and getting a shot at him.” Like Bechtel, other Youngstown-area men and women are breaking free from the traditional restraints of their gender and reinterpreting what exactly it means to be a

member of their sex. They’ve metaphorically gone back to the drawing board to rewrite the roles and identities of both males and females, but are also disassembling old, dying and outdated stereotypes, some they feel never really made sense in the first place. Bechtel’s passion for such an unlikely feminine pursuit is what differentiates her from many of her gender. According to Bechtel, although her guy friends don’t really have a problem with her hobby and her male family members find it “kind of neat,” her girl friends think that it’s amusing, to say the least, but don’t really get it. Additionally, her female family members joke and kid around with her about such a nontraditional pastime, but Bechtel readily admits that everyone supports her hunting. Perhaps this is because of the attitude of her small hometown of Andover where hunting

19

Photo by Mark Reis/Colorado Springs Gazette/MCT

percent since 2001. This number is increasing every year. Additionally, the survey found that women ages 18 to 24 represent the fastestgrowing group of female hunters and shooters. Despite feeling that it has become more acceptable for women to take up hunting today, Bechtel acknowledges that men do have some advantages within the sport. For instance, Bechtel said men have more strength in dragging deer out of the woods. Also, men would likely have an easier time actually gutting the deer, something Bechtel “definitely” doesn’t like to do. Additionally, Bechtel usually wears a lot of layers under her camouflage while hunting because she gets cold easily, and sometimes has problems finding good gloves that are small enough. Bechtel Jamie Beyerle competed in the Beijing Games on the U.S. shooting team in the Women’s 3 Position Rifle competition June in Colorado Springs, Colo. can’t use a compound bow because she is not strong enough trip is a prime example of this. is just a part of life, Bechtel said, Although looking for something for to pull it back, and said it’s also remembering days off school on her bow, the salesman “pretty much more difficult for women to prepare the first day of gun season. for hunting since everyone, both ignored” her and spoke mostly to “If I was from somewhere that her fiance, who actually wasn’t even males and females, should wash hunting wasn’t so important to with special scent-free soap and trying to buy anything for himself. everyone, then people probably shampoo. This, at least for Bechtel, Even so, Bechtel just laughed the wouldn’t accept me as a female experience off and said she doesn’t eliminates good conditioners and hunter so much,” Bechtel said. “It’s styling products, resulting in “hair blame the salesman. If she were kind of expected of males from my that goes nuts.” a saleswoman in a kitchen store, town to be hunters. People would Crazy hair and too-big gloves she would obviously try to make probably find it odder if I was aside, that’s really it. Bechtel the sale to the woman, and not her a male who never went hunting says she has just as good of an rather than a female who does hunt. husband, Bechtel said, adding that aim as other men and proudly if she was that bothered by being Everyone seems to support me, so noted that she has even been one of the few women in a male it’s never been a big deal being a a more successful hunter than sport, she probably never would female in a male sport.” some men she knows. Although have even began hunting. Still, people usually seem she completely understands the surprised when they find out she’s Although female hunters are reasons for hunting being a more a hunter, said Bechtel, who notes still in a clear minority, they are masculine pursuit, Bechtel thinks that women usually seem more no longer a complete oddity, it’s worth it, regardless of gender. surprised than men. Some don’t according to recent statistics. “You have to sit in the cold, even believe it when she first tells This leads many to believe the sometimes rain or snow, with the them about her hobby, and Bechtel portrait of the typical hunter is possibility of not even seeing a also admits that it is common for changing. In fact, according to a deer. I don’t blame a lot of women people to adhere to time-worn survey conducted by the National for not wanting to do that,” Bechtel stereotypes, whether they do it Sporting Goods Association, said. “However, I would definitely consciously or not. 2.4 million women hunted with encourage other women to give A Gander Mountain shopping firearms in 2005, an increase of 72 hunting a shot. I know that it sounds boring and uncomfortable, but I can honestly say that when you do “When you do actually get a actually get a deer, there is nothing deer, there is nothing more more exciting. Plus, it’s pretty cool to be a girl and get a bigger buck exciting. Plus, it’s pretty cool to than a lot of other guys for the be a girl and get a bigger buck season.”

than a lot of other guys for the season.” — Ashley Bechtel

20

reinventing a craft This idea of gender role reinterpretation also applies to a most basic and traditional craft: knitting. By taking a once very domestic pursuit, loaded with gender specificity, and turning it into a structural form of art, YSU catalog librarian Kevin Whitfield not only breaks the stereotypes of the craft, but also that of knitters. Originally hailing from Canada, Whitfield is a man who has knitted for nearly 20 years. He has a background and degree in art and he knits and exhibits highly-sculptural textile art objects that bring knitting far beyond the production of garments. Some of his most recent pieces, shown in Maag Library at this year’s university-hosted Summer Festival of the Arts, are actually knit suits — a combination of body and garment — that join true-to-life personal histories with actual figural representations. According to Whitfield, these pieces (regarded as a veritable “second skin”) both represent identity, gender and the possible blurring of lines between masculinity and femininity. Although his “skins” possess elements of both genders, they were created through a traditionally feminine art. In this way, an “interchangeability between sexes” exists — the switch is “as simple as putting on a new suit,” Whitfield said. Despite using knitting to primarily create art pieces, Whitfield began knitting basic items like sweaters and mittens soon after his sister taught him the elementary steps of the craft. He became “hooked” on knitting. However, Whitfield eventually began to notice something intriguing about his work. “My knitted items began to suggest body parts,” Whitfield said, as he leaned forward over his desk in Maag Library. “A sweater resembled a torso, while a glove looked like a hand. Even cabling was like muscle or bone structure. This led to my reinterpretation of knitting to create figurative items. I wanted to expand knitting and make things people didn’t expect to see.” It was in Japan in the early ’90s that Whitfield began knitting theyomag.com

fall 2008

some integrate DNA patterns into otherwise traditional scarves. In this way, knitting has become an almost infinite and limitless medium. “Knitting is so versatile that you can do anything you want to,” Whitfield said. “Both females and males can interpret knitting in any way. It depends upon the individual. There are no gender restrictions to it, at least to the individual. Society teaches us to behave according to certain restrictions, but we can

They range from absolute fascination to complete hostility, but what are you going to do? There are going to be people who love what you do and those who dislike it,” Whitfield said. According to the Craft Yarn Council of America, an industry group that does knitting trend research, the number of men who knit has increased to approximately 2.6 million from 1.5 million. This makes male knitters

“Society teaches us to behave according to certain restrictions, but we can cross those boundaries as we see fit.” — Kevin Whitfield

cross those boundaries as we see fit.” Despite the feminine label knitting has developed over the years, this belief is just a construct. It was only during the 19th century and the advent of the Industrial Revolution that knitting became associated with women who found themselves with additional leisure time. Prior to that, knitting was started by and belonged to men. And now, in spite of its gender stereotypes, men — including Whitfield — are taking knitting back. Modern knitters are an interesting bunch, coming from all ages, all walks of life and both genders. Whitfield attributed this to the idea that perhaps knitting is not at all a gender-specific activity, and cited the existence of a “gender spectrum or continuum.” On this continuum, Whitfield said, everyone is made up of both masculine and feminine traits, but some people are further on certain sides of the spectrum than others. Additionally, Whitfield acknowledged a lack of exposure to males in the knitting world, but also mentioned that in Canada, when men do knit, it is rather “normal and accepted.” Interestingly enough, while knitting in public, Whitfield has received many positive — and some negative — reactions. “Sometimes I knit in public to deliberately provoke a response.

about five percent of the entire knitting population. Additionally,

between the years of 2002 and 2004, the number of women knitters in the USA increased 150 percent. “Knitting has been in decline for a very long time,” said Whitfield. “Most everything in the art world has its ebbs and flows, but knitting will always have its place. It will never fade out completely because there will always be die-hards like myself.”

Reclaiming a role Just as knitting was once a manly art, so was cheerleading; lately, this has lead some male cheerleaders to — surprisingly enough — return to their roots. The first cheerleader, in 1898 at a University of Minnesota football game, was a man. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and George W. Bush were male cheerleaders and each were deemed by the collegiate crowd as future “Most Likely to Succeed.”

Photo Courtesy of Jeneane Crago

figures and rethinking knitting as an actual art form. While living there, Whitfield observed the significance of fiber, especially silk and more crude elements like rice stems, in the Eastern art world. He managed to translate these ideals and influences into a more Western interpretation. This began as the churning out of numerous knit body parts that actual garments suggested, including a male torso of jute, but eventually evolved into the creation of complete knit figures representing the entire body. Now, guided by these concepts, much of this contemporary artist’s work questions the permanence of identity, including sexual identity, by taking the personal histories and thoughts of his subjects and rendering them and their stories into knit sculptures that represent each subject’s individual body. The words Whitfield embroiders or knits into the garment have dual meanings: first, they stand for the “things people had to say about themselves and their lives,” he said. Second, they represent the degree of insignificance words have on the vast majority of current, machinemanufactured clothing. “In this way, I could exhibit people’s stories and take it a step further by actually knitting their body,” Whitfield said. “Each garment is the size of that person’s body with the words they said. They’re not necessarily as pleasant as I would have liked, but I was true to them [in my work].” Whitfield’s work throughout the years has earned him much acclaim, both in the country, at the Butler Institute of American Art and the Museum of Contemporary Craft, and abroad in Canada and Japan, where he won a prize. Through his passion for and reinvention of the craft of knitting, Whitfield has elevated from an almost necessary, utilitarian act to an art form. Whitfield, however, is just one of a plethora of knitters working to distort the traditional face of knitting. He named artists who, instead of knitting socks and sweaters, are creating knit plates and teacups, knit weaponry — including guns and landmines — and knit cozies for everything from houses to tanks. Additionally, other knitters are basing sweaters on mathematical formulas, while

YSU cheerleader Scott Rouan performs a shoulder sit with partner Jeneane Crago during a Fall 2008 football game. 21

Regardless, World War II “The reactions I have seen have gymnastics and technique. depleted American universities of never been negative. It’s hard to Typically, Rouan cheers at all many young men, and it was then believe, but most people who find football and basketball home that cheerleading became almost out I’m a cheerleader think it’s games (and some away games), exclusively a feminine domain, and pretty amazing. Other reactions as well as at various events where the image of the pert, perky and have been that of neutrality or the cheerleaders’ presence is popular female cheerleader who surprise, but never insult,” Rouan requested. rarely, if ever, exhibited any athletic said. Despite his hectic schedule, skills was born. In the 20-member YSU Rouan said the perks of being All of this was long before cheerleading squad, three a cheerleader far outweigh any cheerleading became the highly cheerleaders including Rouan are negative aspects. athleticized, gymnastics-based male. “You’d be surprised how fun sport it is today. Contemporary According to American it is to just try something new cheerleading is a far cry from what Sports Data, Inc., 97 percent of sometime,” Rouan said. “I suppose it once was in the decades past; all cheerleaders are female, but it’s something like gymnastics. cheerleaders today build human nearly 50 percent of collegiate Though someone may find it odd pyramids, throw their teammates cheerleaders are male. Although that a guy is attending a gymnastics through the air and balance other the guys are outnumbered by class, once they see what he can do, cheerleaders on their legs, arms women, Rouan said this gender their opinion changes.” and shoulders. Cheerleading disparity does not stop him from today is definitely about strength, having fun, although it does cause which is a characteristic YSU male a “lack of communication on both cheerleader Scott Rouan believes sides because most of us have is absolutely necessary for all nothing in common.” Alyson Cadman, a YSU cheerleaders. Even so, since the start of his sophomore and physical therapy Rouan, a junior chemical cheering career, Rouan has been major, probably felt similarly at her engineering major, is originally able to see things and meet people first karate class 12 years ago. The from Mineral Ridge and likes he never would have imagined, 19-year-old taekwondo instructor listening to music and hanging out but he has also gained a great from Struthers first began taking with his friends on the weekends. deal of strength, he said. Rouan karate classes at the age of seven However, unlike most other also noted that in the sport, men when her mom had a coupon. 21-year-old guys, Rouan is a male must concentrate more on the At the time, Cadman thought cheerleader and has been cheering physical aspects, like their strength the sport “looked like fun.” Little on the YSU Penguins for about and height, in order to be able did she know that in the years that three and a half years. Although it’s to perform lifts and throws, while followed she would earn a fourthmore common today to see men women tend to focus more on degree black belt and numerous playing on the field than cheering on the sidelines, Rouan thinks it is becoming more acceptable to be a male cheerleader, especially with depictions of them in the films “Bring It On” and “High School Musical.” “When I first started, I was incredibly nervous about my first game. I was worried about what people would think of me and how I would react,” Rouan said. “However, I was surprised at how many people were cheering me on when I did stunts and how everyone was shocked when we put up pyramids. After that day, I was much less worried about how people would react to my cheerleading.” Introduced to the sport by a step-cousin who encouraged him to attend a cheerleading practice a few years ago, Rouan admitted initially his friends found it “odd” he would try something like this. Now, his friends come to games to watch the Penguins and see Rouan cheer. Additionally, Rouan said his family, among others, has always been supportive of his choice to Alyson Cadman spars with another competitor during an August 2008 cheer. tournament at Slippery Rock University in Pa. She placed second in sparring. 22

Photo courtesy of Alyson Cadman

Raising the bar

honors, including the title of Ohio State Champion in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2008, and Top Ten in 2002 and 2007. Cadman is a certified instructor at Austintown ATA Black Belt Academy through attending numerous certification clinics around the world. She has been a teacher for five years and practices karate six days each week. Since starting karate, the reactions of her family and friends haven’t changed all that much, except to perhaps realize how large of a role karate plays in Cadman’s life. Whenever anyone finds out about Cadman’s passion for the sport, the response is typically, “Better not mess with you.” While women don’t tend to react as much, men often want proof that she can beat them up, which, with the skills Cadman possesses, including punching, kicking, board breaking, sparring, self defense and the use of weapons, is very possible. Cadman has even inspired some to take up the sport as well, regardless of their gender. Cadman said most of the time when men sign up for classes, they primarily want to learn how to fight; women are more interested in self defense or physical fitness. “Even so, there is not much of a difference between men and women in this sport,” Cadman said. “You need to have control, discipline and determination. As long as you have the will to improve, we can help anyone develop the skills you need to be successful in karate.” Male or female, karate can be a great stress reliever and workout, but it can also test your limits, Cadman said. Although she said many sports probably start out as male activities, karate is slowly beginning to even out. In fact, more and more girls and women are taking classes than ever, according to Cadman, who said the girls’ locker room is beginning to get too crowded. However, there are still times when she feels as though she’s one of a small group of females in a male-dominated sport. “Usually it helps me challenge myself a little more and it makes men realize that women can do everything they can,” Cadman said. “I think it’s great to be able to have a choice; if you’re good at something, it shouldn’t matter if you’re a man or woman.” * theyomag.com

[A Yo* Diary]

Coming to America: a dream gone bad

[Yo* Profile] By Todd Mounce

W

ho would have thought that a guy who grew up outside Weirton, W. Va., Immigrating to a country at social war with Arab and Muslim would be leading a charge cultures after 9/11 was the wrong time to come to America. to defend Youngstown? For By Mariam Bshara Phil Kidd, what started out as were about the quality of life, lack a slogan on a sign and T-shirt of racism and freedom of speech, oming to the United States has turned into a movement. and the unmet needs of my life was such a great relief Weirton is not that in Palestine. We came here in to me, moving from an different than Youngstown, December 2001, right after 9/11 occupied country to the country of a small steel town where — the worst timing to come to the freedom, from Palestine to America. United States. In the airport we had Kidd’s family worked. Kidd But it wasn’t too long until I noticed to go through elaborate security. It’s became fascinated with how wrong my expectations were, Youngstown as a student so hard on one to move from one or how much misunderstandings house to the other, but it was harder serving in the ROTC at turned my dream into a nightmare. Youngstown State University to move from a country to another. In Palestine, we got to a point in the late ’90s. The Yo’s I thought that representing where it took us about an hour eerie infrastructure — an my country and being a proud to get to school on foot, and we apocalyptic, industrial ruin Palestinian would be appreciated, were always in danger at the — drew him back to found but instead, I was spit on and checkpoints. I got slapped once, Defend Youngstown as the cursed out for wearing my “Right and when my uncle came to talk to grassroots compliment to to Return, 1948 Palestine” shirt at the soldier who hit me, he got hit on Youngstown State University. the city’s revitalization plan. the shoulder with the side of a gun Though the Yo’ was left for dead People have literally walked away and injured pretty badly. We ended from me after finding out I am Arabic, after the closing of the mills, Kidd up living in my uncle’s house next believes the city has the potential considering me a terrorist walking to the school for about a month, and around with a gun at my side. for unique redevelopment. that was even harder. After that we “The Youngstown 2010 plan I’d like to clear a few things up. decided we were leaving. brought me back,” Kidd said. In the Middle East there are two My only thoughts of America “People were looking for answers, main faiths, Islam and Christianity, and they didn’t know how to solve and in Palestine both the problems of a city in peril.” religions lived together. Criticism came with international We shared the same praise for the city’s efforts to get culture and traditions back on its feet. with the exception of a In 2008 Forbes named Youngstown few rules.When it comes one the 10 fastest dying cities in to clothes, Palestinian America, and Rolling Stone has Christians dress just like ripped into Youngstown as being women here in the United the armpit of Ohio. States, but with a few “Ten years ago ... we might have restrictions, like nothing said, ‘Oh well, another black eye for from under the clothes. Youngstown.’ Today, because of our Men wear whatever they fight for change, you’re going to get like. Muslim women wear return fire,” Kidd said. a scarf covering their hair “At the end of the day we don’t and sometimes their faces.  give a shit about what a pop culture While the United magazine says about Youngstown. States is known for The opinions of national urbanpeace, justice, equality policy experts speak for us.” and fairness, this only Kidd took to the streets downtown, applies to its natives, just him and his slogan on a sign. It not foreigners, in my didn’t take long for the idea to catch experience. It’s my hope on. T-shirts with the slogan came that more Americans next, and Kidd says shirt sales have try looking beyond a topped 10,000 worldwide. foreign name, unfamiliar The next step was the language or different Defend Youngstown Web site, religion. By the way — I which promotes Youngstown’s am a Roman Catholic.* advancement efforts. “People now are here by choice, Photo Courtesy of the writer

Photo by Andrew Berry

C

fall 2008

Making the case for Youngstown How Phil Kidd is defending the Yo’ not because they have to be. They’re here because they accept the challenges but want to make a direct difference,” says Kidd. “We are giving people reasons to come back now.” Kidd served as the city’s director of events and marketing until recently taking a job with the Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative, which seeks to organize neighborhood cleanup and renewal. He sounds like he’s planning to stay for good. “One day, I want to be sitting at the Royal Oaks Bar when I’m 75, doing a shot, and I want to hear some young person my age say, ‘How was Youngstown ever that bad? I don’t understand how it ever could have been that bad. This is a cool little city,’” Kidd says smiling. “If I hear that, I’ll do my shot with a grisly smile. I could walk out that door and get hit by a bus, but I would be fine with that because I’d die knowing we won.”* 23

Calling all writers, editors, designers and photographers