Jason Kohl ’06 shows his award-winning film “The Slaughter” at Kalamazoo College, Tuesday, April 22 at 7:00 p.m. in Light Fine Arts Recital Hall. Sponsored by Kalamazoo College Media Studies, the film is free and open to the public.
Michigan-born Jason B. Kohl is an Austrian/American Filmmaker. He got his B.A. in creative writing from Kalamazoo College in 2006 before moving to Berlin, Germany on a Fulbright Scholarship. In 2012 he got his MFA in directing from UCLA Film School in Los Angeles.
His UCLA MFA Thesis Film “The Slaughter” premiered at the 2013 South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas and was a finalist for the Student Academy Awards. It continues to play festivals like BFI London, Locarno, and Ann Arbor. Filmmaker Magazine called it “a masterfully directed story.”
The short film stars “Breaking Bad” actor Michael Shamus Wiles, and is about a pig farmer who tests his unemployed son’s determination to join the family business.
Jason’s been a finalist or semifinalist for several prestigious labs including the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, the Torino Film Festival’s Adaptlab, and the Nantucket Screenwriters Colony.
He’s an alumnus of the Locarno Filmmaker Academy and a curator for Short of the Week, the premiere online destination for short films.
From 2012-2013 he returned to Berlin to complete postgraduate directing studies at the German Film and Television Academy as a DAAD Artist Study Scholar. He remains based in Berlin, where he is developing various feature projects.
Jason does for hire directing work with his partner Nora Mandray. As Mako Film, their clients include MSNBC, Etsy and Vocativ.
His first nonfiction book, a practical guide to film school, will be published by the Focal Press in 2015.
John Evans (left) and Aaron Thornburg during their Hornet soccer days
During their K days, Aaron Thornburg ’02 and John Evans ’02 were often together. After all, both majored in psychology, and both played on the Hornet men’s soccer team, where they shared MIAA championships (three) and team MVP honors. This year they are teaming up again.
In their junior year, 2001, John and Aaron spent a summer together in Guatemala City to train for their upcoming K soccer season and to conduct research for their Senior Individualized Projects. Thirteen years later they will be back in Guatemala City together, this time collaborating on a different scholarly initiative.
In June, the two Hornets will lead a group of some 20 Seattle University students on a Central American study abroad experience, part of a course Aaron developed called Cultural Intelligence and Global Business Communication. The project seeks to improve international leadership abilities among graduate and undergraduate students, so they may better facilitate constructive outcomes and effective cross-cultural interactions in global business.
Aaron’s interest in cultural intelligence dates to his first experience in international living—his K study abroad experience in Strasbourg, France. “The quarter in France opened my eyes to a world with a rich diversity of cultures. Because crossing borders will continue to grow in both frequency and importance, we all need to better understand how to function as leaders across cultural boundaries. Cultural intelligence is a crucial skill and aptitude in the world of business. But more importantly, it helps us understand and relate better to people with backgrounds different than our own. And that enables people to connect on a personal and empathetic level, which I believe is the foundation to a better world.”
After graduating from K, Aaron, an Okemos (Mich.) native, earned his J.D. and M.B.A. from Michigan State University. He then lived and worked in Asia, South America, and Europe. Currently, he resides in Seattle, Wash., where he teaches international business at Seattle University’s Albers School of Business and Economics.
Aaron’s résumé includes work at Instituto de Empresa (IE) (Madrid, Spain), a top-ranked international business school. One of his colleagues there was fellow classmate Justin Swinsick ’02, who served as the school’s executive director of international programs. Aaron’s time at IE also coincided with those of Lisa Emami ’02 and Nathan Burns ’03—a tribute to how international the K study body truly is!
John Evans’ international experience began before he even arrived at K. He grew up living part-time in Petoskey, Michigan, and part-time in Guatemala City, Guatemala.
After K, John earned his master’s degree in counseling psychology from Western Michigan University (2007). He worked one year as an admission counselor at K, and then attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he completed his doctorate in sport and exercise psychology. In North Carolina he worked with athletes with skill levels ranging from developmental to Olympic-class. Today John lives in Columbia, S.C. He works for the United States Army Training Center at Fort Jackson in the Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness program, sharing sport and performance psychology skills with soldiers and family members.
Buena suerte to both men this June. You can follow their Guatemala study abroad experience @GuateAbroad on Twitter and Instagram. Article by Ross Bower ’03
Con Hilberry, dean of Kalamazoo area poets, during a recent reading and celebration of his latest collection of poetry in the College’s Olmsted Room. Photo by Ly Nguyen ’14.
… would be the advice of an article by Anna Clark titled “Kalamazoo quietly emerging as a literary hot spot” that appeared in the Detroit Free Press and Lansing State Journal. Of course, K stands for Kalamazoo (the city) but certainly includes Kalamazoo College. The article quotes Bonnie Jo Campbell (author of American Salvage and Once Upon a River, among others) extensively, and Campbell has taught creative writing at K, and she has served as the College’s 2012 Summer Common Reading author. Literary prizes abound for Kalamazoo-area-related authors (Campbell has been a finalist for both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics’ Circle Award; David Small is a National Book Award finalist for his graphic memoir Stitches (and a former faculty member in K’s art department); and Western Michigan University’s Jaimy Gordon is the 2010 National Book Award Winner (Lord of Misrule). Kalamazoo College connections abound, as well. Campbell was a frequent member of a Monday night poetry class taught by Professor Emeritus of English and poet Con Hilberry (11 books, including, most recently, the highly acclaimed Until the Full Moon Has its Say). Campbell’s poems have appeared in Encore Magazine. Other former students of Con include published poets (and Kalamazoo residents and alumnae) Susan (Blackwell) Ramsey’72 (A Mind Like This) and Gail (McMurray) Martin ’74 (Begin Empty Handed and The Hourglass Heart). Kalamazoo College Writer in Residence (and Kalamazoo resident and alumna) Diane Seuss ’78 will soon publish Four Legged Girl, which follows her two previous volumes of poetry (It Blows You Hollow and Wolf Lake White Gown Blown Open). Fiction writer and Professor of English Andy Mozina has published The Women Were Leaving the Men, and his new collection of short stories, Quality Snacks, is forthcoming. Professor of English Bruce Mills is currently on sabbatical promoting his new memoir An Archeology of Yearning. Mozina and Mills both reside in Kalamazoo. Professor Emeritus of English Gail Griffin (another Kalamazoo resident) is using her retirement to work on her next work. She is the author of the breathtaking “The Events of October”: Murder-Suicide on a Small Campus. Gail is also a published poet, and she has written a number of essay collections, including Calling: Essays on Teaching in the Mother Tongue and Season of the Witch: Border Lines, Marginal Notes. Yes, Kalamazoo College is the right place for literature. There may be no other place where it’s likely to go better.
Teju Cole ’96 (photo by Chester Higgins Jr./New York Times)
Nigerian-American Teju Cole ’96 (nom de plume of Yemi Onafuwa) is coming out with a new old(er) book. This week Random House is publishing Every Day Is For the Thief, a work of fiction Cole wrote prior to his critically acclaimed novel Open City (published by Random House in 2011). The New York Times recently published an article on Cole (“In Words and Photos, Cramming in Life,” by John Williams, March 19, 2014). The article notes the liberal arts journeys of Cole, which include an original pre-med school undergraduate pathway that morphed into his B.A. (from K) in art and art history; master’s degrees in art history and philosophy; a Ph.D. (in progress) on Northern Renaissance Art, which may or may not be completed due, in part, to his recent deep explorations of writing and photography. Cole also has written for his alma mater. LuxEsto published his story on artist Julie Mehretu ’92 in Spring of 2011. Cole took the photographs for that article as well. According to Williams, Every Day Is For the Thief was inspired by Cole’s return trip to Lagos, Nigeria, after more than a decade away. Both books have in common the voice of a wandering narrator, though Open City opens the interior life of its narrator through its stream of consciousness style. “Every Day adopts the more simple perspective of a travel journal,” wrote Williams. “Like Open City, Mr. Cole said, it includes ’versions of some things that might have happened, and then things that are completely made up, but made up to look like they are memoirish.’” Cole is currently at work on a non-fiction book about Nigeria.
The power of science in large part is the power of great storytelling. When the stories lead into mystery … well, that’s when science continues, generating more stories and encountering more mysteries. The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Genetics/Biotech center harnesses the power of stories during a public series called Wednesday Nite @ The Lab, occurring every Wednesday, 50 times a year. Attendance is high, and K alumna Rachel Mallinger ’05 will be the featured presenter on Wednesday, March 26. Her topic: “Wisconsin’s Wild Bees: Who Are They, What Do They Do, and Why Should We Conserve them?” Rachel earned her B.A. in biology at K, her M.S. in entomology and agroecology (UW-Madison) and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in entomology at UW-Madison. Wisconsin has more than 500 species of native wild bees, and their contributions to pollination are becoming more and more important as honey bee populations decline. Mallinger’s talk will focus on effect of land use change and farm management on the abundance and diversity of wild bees. “I will also discuss the role of wild bees in crop pollination, and address whether or not they can fulfill our food needs,” she wrote. Mallinger wants to learn more about the roles of insects in agricultural ecosystems and how insects can be managed to enhance the sustainability of farming. She currently studies wild bees and pollination services within fruit orchards. She enjoys working with farmers, experimenting in her own vegetable garden, and cross-country skiing during the winter. At K, Rachel studied abroad in Thailand, and she also mentored a SIP student supervised by Ann Fraser, associate professor of biology. According to Fraser, that student is now applying to Ph.D. programs to work on wild bees. “That will make at least four grads in the last eight years who have done to work on wild bees,” adds Fraser. “I’ll be working with three students this summer on another bee project (looking at the impacts of honey bees on wild bees), and a student organization on campus is starting work on constructing ’buzz boxes’ on campus to improve foraging and nesting habitat for wild bees. Maybe,” grins Fraser,” we need a new college mascot.” The hornet’s probably safe for now.
Diane DeZwaan ’05 is conducting cancer research in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. She is one of the authors of a research article whose impact of has been much larger than expected. The article, which appears in the journal PLOS/Genetics, is titled “The Stress-Regulated Transcription Factor CHOP Promotes Hepatic Inflammatory Gene Expression, Fibrosis, and Oncogenesis.” Her research provides evidence of a chain of events that leads to the formation of liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma, or HCC), the third most common cause of cancer death worldwide. Liver cancer is most commonly caused by viral hepatitis, alcoholism, or obesity, all of which activate cell stress in the liver. DeZwaan’s research may be the first that links elements of this stress response–specifically the expression of a stress-regulated transcription factor called CHOP–to the appearance of cancerous tumors in the liver. The research also showed that exposure (in mice) to a tumor-causing agent when CHOP is absent results in fewer tumors and less cell death. The findings of the research establish CHOP as a biological marker for liver cancer and showed its importance in promoting liver tumor formation. It’s possible that the genesis of tumors by CHOP is a common feature of liver cancer. The research raises intriguing questions that require additional research, which may lead to important new insights into the development of liver cancer. The editors of the magazine were so taken by the potential of the work that they contributed a perspectives article (“The Integrated Stress Response in HCC: Not Just CHOPped Liver”) on it. Television and print media outlets in Iowa have published stories on DeZwaan’s research. As an undergraduate at K DeZwaan majored in biology, studied abroad in Australia, and played on the Hornet basketball team.
Jordan Klepper ’01 is the newest correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Mon-Thu at 11pm on Comedy Central. The Kalamazoo native earned a B.A. degree in math at K and performed in Monkapult, the student-run improve troupe.
Jordan Klepper ’01 has joined The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, as the newest correspondent on the popular late-night Comedy Central show. During his March 3 debut episode, Jordan reported “live” from Ukraine, but his take on events in the politically unstable country quickly devolved in a comedic take on his own new and perhaps unstable job status.
Jordan has performed at New York City’s Upright Citizens Brigade (UBC) improvisational comedy and sketch comedy group for three years. He was also a correspondent on the comedic sports show Friday Night Tailgate on the Big Ten Network for three seasons, and performed at Second City and iO theaters in Chicago, where he met his wife and frequent collaborator Laura Grey. Together, Klepper and Grey created and starred in the UCB Comedy-produced pilot Engaged, which they later turned into a web series. His TV credits include IFC’s Bunk and MTV’s I Just Want My Pants Back.
Jordan grew up in Kalamazoo, attending Kalamazoo Central High School and the Kalamazoo Area Math and Science Center. A Heyl Scholar at K, he earned his B.A. degree in mathematics, while participating in many Theatre Department and Festival Playhouse productions. He often performed in K’s student run improv troupe, Monkapult.
Jordan’s sister, Caycee (Klepper) Sledge ’05 is K alumna and classmate of another well-known Monkapult alumnus, Steven Yuen ’05, who appears as Glenn on AMC’s popular TV show The Walking Dead.
Jordan is the first new correspondent on The Daily Show in more than two years and joins Samantha Bee, Jason Jones, Aasif Mandvi, and Jessica Williams. The Daily Show airs Monday through Thursday at 11 p.m. ET on Comedy Central.
Check out a selection of web videos, short films, and web series featuring Jordan Klepper and Laura Grey at http://klepperandgrey.tumblr.com and http://splitsider.com/2014/03/the-daily-show-hires-jordan-klepper-as-its-newest-correspondent.
Chokwe Lumumba ’69, mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, died on February 25, 2014. He was 66. He came to K from Detroit, Michigan, as Edwin Taliaferro. He majored in political science, played football and basketball, and was instrumental in the creation and growth of the College’s Black Student Organization. He was profoundly affected by the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which partly inspired his lifelong dedication to human rights and social justice.
Lumumba changed his name in 1969. He took his new first name from an African tribe that resisted slavery centuries ago and his last name from the African independence leader Patrice Lumumba. His loss is widely mourned, and a news obituary appeared in the February 26 New York Times.
Lumumba moved to Jackson, Mississippi, in 1971 to work in the civil rights movement there, then returned to Michigan where he earned his law degree (Wayne State University) and continue the fight for political and economic liberation of all people. He returned to Jackson in 1988 and spent the next two decades as a tireless defense attorney and human rights advocate, representing mostly African-American defendants.
A dedicated socialist, Lumumba was also a leader and organizer of the “Republic of New Afrika Movement,” a group that welcomes both blacks and whites in the struggle “for human rights for black people in this country and human rights around the globe,” said Lumumba.
Lumumba served one term on the Jackson City Council before he was elected Mayor of the capital in 2013. Among his achievements he persuaded voters to add a local sales tax to improve the city’s aging infrastructure. He is fondly remembered by many family and friends, among them Kalamazoo College classmate and fellow Mississippian Max Garriott ’69, who wrote: “I was privileged to witness his early development as a leader in the turbulent 1960’s at Kalamazoo College, and fate had it that as two Northerners from widely varying backgrounds we found ourselves shortly after graduation in service to the African-American community of the Jackson area, he as a lawyer and I as an educator. Jackson shall be forever rightfully proud of this giant of a man who, in the short span of seven months, managed to rally even the most skeptical citizens to his side. His firm commitment and gentle demeanor, coupled with courage and determination in the face of adversity, are exactly what this wonderful city needs to emulate as it now faces a future deprived of his guidance as its mayor. My prayers go out to his beautiful family and friends.”
LuxEsto did a feature story (Fall 2010) on Lumumba, and that article closed with his own words: “The struggle for human rights–black rights and white rights–is far from over. Everywhere you look in the world today, you see economic oppression, class oppression being visited on suffering human beings.
“That oppression is simply not acceptable. It must be fought. And you can be sure we will go right on fighting against economic and social injustice of every kind for as long as it takes!”
Sing me a song of the Revolution
Marching like fire over the world,
Weaving from the earth its brightest red banner
For the hands of the masses to unfurl.
Sing me a song of the Revolution
Drowning the past with a thunderous shout:
Filled with the strength of youth and laughter,
And never the echo of a doubt.
O mighty roll of the Revolution,
Ending the centuries of bloody strife,
Ending the tricks of kings and liars,
Big with the laughter of a new life.
Breaking the bonds of the darker races,
Breaking the chains that have held for years,
Breaking the barriers dividing the people,
Smashing the gods of terror and tears.
Cutting, O flame of the Revolution,
Fear from the world like a surgeon’s knife,
So that the children of all creation
Waken, at last, to the joy of life.
Richard L. Means ’52, professor emeritus of sociology, died on February 15, 2014. He came to K as an undergraduate student in 1948, when he transferred from the University of Toledo. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. At K he won the Hodge Prize in philosophy and was president of the student body. He was also a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He and fellow K graduate, Joyce Allen, married in 1953.
Means earned a bachelor’s degree in divinity from Colgate Rochester Divinity School (1956) and an M.A. and Ph.D. (sociology) from Cornell University (1959 and 1964, respectively). He served as a chaplain at Cornell (1956-59) and was ordained as an Associate Minster of the First Congregational Church (1957). He returned to K in 1961, where he received tenure (1964) and was promoted to full professor (1972). He retired from K in 1993, having served the College for 32 years.
Among the qualities that made him exceptional, wrote his colleague and friend, Dean of the Chapel Robert Dewey, on the occasion of Mean’s 25th service anniversary with the College, were his “command of a discipline, intellectual curiosity beyond that discipline, stimulating conversation, collegial support, a sense of humor, a broad range of interests and an impressive knowledge of each, a passionate concern for the vitality and quality of the College and for the problems confronting society, the nation, and the world.” His research and teaching interests were broad and deep and included the family, criminology, mental health institutions, the sociology of religion, race relations, alcohol and drug abuse, the environment, and social gerontology. Citing the breadth of his colleague’s intellectual interests Dewey likened Means to “a man in a conning tower rotating his periscope across the wide horizon to see and grasp what he finds there.” Means wrote numerous journal articles on various topics in sociology and religion, and he was the author of the book The Ethical Imperative: The Value Crisis in America, which was used in college classes at Grinnell and Carleton, among others.
After he retired from K, Means served as interim minster of the First Congregational Church of Kalamazoo. He then served as interim minster of the First Congregational Church of Coloma, Michigan.
He is survived by Joyce, his wife of 60 years, their three children, three grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews. A memorial service will be held at 2 PM on Thursday, February 20, at First Congregational Church, 129 S. Park Street. Friends and family will have the opportunity to gather for a time of remembrance and fellowship on Friday, February 21, beginning at 3:30 in the Kiva at Friendship Village, 1700 N. Drake Road.
Gerald E. Rosen ’73, who has served for 24 years as a U.S. District Court judge in Detroit (five years as chief judge), delivered the 29th annual I. Goodman Cohen Lecture in Trial Advocacy at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit on Feb. 4. Rosen’s lecture, “Trial Practice as Viewed from the Perspective of the Trial Judge,” took place in the Spencer M. Partrich Auditorium at the law school, 471 W. Palmer St.
David Porada ’02 is now project manager in the Detroit office of Tri-Merit LLC, a national leader in providing research and development tax-credit services to CPA firms and individual clients. He holds a law degree from University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. He previously served as an account executive at Robert Half Legal where he dealt directly with executives at corporations and partners at law firms to assess their needs and address complex issues. David also spent time as a research specialist with Thomson Reuters Westlaw.
Molly (Shelter) Parker, D.O. ’05 has opened a family practice with a special interest in women’s health at Three Meadows Medical Plaza in Hillsdale, Mich. The Ann Arbor native earned her doctor of osteopathy degree at Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in Kirksville, Mo.
Dr. Molly (Shelter) Parker (center) with her new medical assistants at the Three Meadows Medical Plaza in Hillsdale, Mich.
Megan Bauer ’12 will receive the 2014 Henry D. Messer Youth Activist Award, one of the annual Catalyst Awards from Equality Michigan, for emerging as a powerful force in Michigan’s LGBT equality movement. As Community Engagement Coordinator the Kalamazoo Gay and Lesbian Resource Center since late 2012, Megan has had an impact not only in the Kalamazoo area, but across Michigan. During her K days, she worked with Habitat for Humanity as an AmeriCorps volunteer and with Queers for Economic Justice in New York. Megan will receive her award at Equality Michigan’s annual dinner February 22 at Motor City Casino to honor the individuals, groups or organizations leading the fight to secure equality for LGBT and HIV-positive persons in Michigan.
Sam Bertken ’12 wrote an entry for the real estate blog Movoto titled “30 Things You Need To Know About Kalamazoo Before You Move There.” It’s fun and informative and yes, you need to know these things about Kalamazoo (and about K, which gets TWO entries in his blog post). At last count, Sam’s entry had earned nearly 46,000 views.
Keeney Swearer ’13
Keeney Swearer ’13 is part of a group art show at the Kalamazoo Book Arts Center in the Park Trades Center, 326 W. Kalamazoo Ave, Suite 103A, Feb. 7-28. An opening reception takes place Friday Feb. 7 from 6-9 p.m. during the February Art Hop in downtown Kalamazoo. Read more about Keeney and see his artwork at www.keeneyswearer.com.
Eric Glanz ’13 was the subject of a recent Detroit Jewish News article. Eric is taking post-graduate classes in biological sciences at Wayne State University in Detroit and preparing for the Medical College Admission Test. The West Bloomfield, Mich.-native was a four-year starter on the Hornet baseball team (catcher!) and co-captain during his junior and senior seasons. He was also a member of K’s Athletic Leadership Council, hosted potential student-athletes, and tutored Kalamazoo area middle school students in math. He’s now a Class Agent for the K Class of 2013.
