Category: Profiles
Campus remembers a life lived to the fullest

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Turki Saad S. AL-Zahrani
“You will be remembered in our prayers as well as our dreams; because of you we all have dreams.”

No facility in Emporia was big enough to accommodate his Celebration of Life last Friday, so an estimated 800 people gathered in Albert Taylor Hall with one, singular desire – to honor the life and memory of James Harter.

What kept the service from taking place at a church, however, was the sheer number of people who came, said Gonzalo Bruce, dean of International Education.

Harter was vice president of International Education for more than 40 years until he retired last June. He died at age 70 in Emporia on Feb. 20.

Those in attendance for Harter’s Celebration of Life included family, friends and students whose lives Harter impacted at Emporia State and abroad.

“We were so blessed to have Mr. Harter,” said Mohsen Haidar, ESU alumnus. “It (coming to ESU) was a culture shock for us (international students). We needed someone great to help us, and he was there.”

Haidar first met Harter in Lebanon, and, years later, Harter went back. While there, he delivered gifts to Haidar’s family and even spent an evening with them.

“(They) took pictures just like they were family,” Haidar said.

It seems going the extra mile for his students was second nature for Harter. Kamal Tahir, ESU alumnus, remembered his last meeting with Harter about three years ago.

“As I left for the airport, he gave me a little bag of goodies,” Tahir said. “Sunflower seeds, brownies and, my favorite, oatmeal raisin cookies. I was seeing him after 16 years, and he remembered some of my favorite snacks.”

Tahir said his time as an undergraduate began when he was 16-years-old, and it was rough for him at first. When he graduated from ESU, Harter was there to support him when his parents couldn’t be. He said he remembers embracing Harter and hearing him say, “We did it. It took a while, but we finally did it.”

In a letter addressed to Harter from Turki Saad S. AL-Zahrani, ESU’s first Arabic Fullbright Scholar, AL-Zahrani wrote, “You were like a father whom I never had. A mentor whom I always admired. You will be remembered in our prayers as well as our dreams; because of you we all have dreams.”

Amy Sage Webb, co-director of creative writing, who often worked closely with Harter, described him as positive and patient, which “made everyone around him relax and have a better time.”

Webb said most of her fondest memories of Harter occurred in the kitchen, as he was always opening his home to students and making meals for them.

But one memory stands out among the rest – when she and Harter were showing international students Christmas lights around Emporia.

“It was so beautiful watching the young people having a good time,” Webb said. “I thanked him for bringing me. He squeezed my arm and said, ‘Isn’t it something?’ And I said, ‘Yes, Jim. It really, really is.’”

In lieu of gifts, those who attended the Celebration of Life were asked to make donations to the J.F. Harter Scholarship for international students.

“Consummate gardener and sweet friend, he is with us in everything he planted that rises, flowers, and fruits in us,” Webb said. “He is missed.”

 
Former student works to make difference through U.N.
Photo courtesy of Samarasinha

Photo courtesy of Samarasinha

A former student was recently appointed the United Nations Resident Coordinator for Belarus, a country with a population of 10 million that shares its borders with Poland and Russia. Sanaka Samarasinha was appointed by Ban Ki-moon, secretary general for the U.N., in September 2012. The job for Samarasinha began Jan. 1.

“Sanaka is a remarkable Hornet doing remarkable work in the world,” said Roger Heineken, administrative officer for the Memorial Union.

His new job in Belarus will focus on preventing the spread of HIV and tuberculosis, strengthening the health system, improving education, creating a “green” economy, preparation for natural disasters and working on the prevention of human trafficking and domestic violence, among other issues.

“Sanaka is fundamentally kind,” Heineken said. “He is friendly and fun to be with. He has courage and is determined in character to make things better for people he will never meet.”

Along with his recent appointment, Samarasinha also serves as the U.N.’s development programmer and is the head of the population fund, UNAIDS. He also serves as the head of the U.N.’s Department for Public Information in Belarus.

During his time at ESU, Samarasinha was editor-in-chief of The Bulletin, served as a senator on Associated Student Government and was also initiated as Phi Delta Theta’s first international member from Sri Lanka, according to a press release. He started out as a psychology and journalism major and then transferred to Kansas University as a junior, where he graduated in 1991.

Before ESU, Samarasinha started college in Sri Lanka, but he wasn’t able to “engage fully as a university student” because universities there were mostly closed during that time due to political upheaval in the country.

“It was ESU that helped define how I would evolve through my undergraduate and graduate years,” Samarasinha said. “It was also the first time I had lived abroad, thousands of miles from my family and friends. It was a challenging time, but I found that most people were warm and welcoming.

“Those first years at ESU were when I learned to appreciate a multicultural setting and learnt to appreciate people for who they are and not just from where they come.”

Now, Samarasinha has lived in 12 different countries on five different continents and traveled to 70 countries around the world. He said before he worked for the U.N., he was accustomed to heavy travel. Traveling is the “best education in life,” he said.

“Experiencing other people and other cultures teaches you not only about the world, but also about yourself,” Samarasinha said.

As for current Hornets, Samarasinha said the best advice he can give is, “carpe diem.”

“Life is uncertain, but what you make of it today is what you will be tomorrow – both in fact and in the memories of those you leave behind,” Samarasinha said. “Take time to appreciate people around you – especially those who may sound and look different to you because if you let them, everyone has something they can share with you that will prepare you for life. And before you know it, the world will be your oyster.”

 
Khelifi wins ‘life-changing’ scholarship
Talal Khelifi, graduate English student, was recently awarded a scholarship in the amount of $1,863 as part of ESU’s 150th anniversary celebration. Khelifi has been at ESU since 2011.Yohan Kim/The Bulletin

Talal Khelifi, graduate English student, was recently awarded a scholarship in the amount of $1,863 as part of ESU’s 150th anniversary celebration. Khelifi has been at ESU since 2011.
Yohan Kim/The Bulletin

When he first arrived at Emporia State in 2011, he simply wanted to earn his degree and leave as soon as possible. But now, the institution and the people who make ESU what it is have grown on him, and he says it will be difficult to leave it all behind.

“Now that I have spent one year and half in Emporia, I am sure that I will have a very hard departure,” said Talal Khelifi, English graduate student, and first ever recipient of the 1863 Scholarship.

The award was presented to Khelifi during the Founder’s Day Luncheon Feb. 15. The criteria for the competition was to write an essay about a significant change in one’s life and what role ESU played in effecting that change. Roughly 60 eligible submissions were considered.

“As the coordinator of the judging, I myself was not one of the evaluators,” said Mel Storm, chair of the English department, in an email. “Talal’s essay stood out because of the emotional impact of the experiences he narrated, the clear sense it imparted of a life being significantly changed, and its poignant recognition of the role ESU played in that change. The prose itself was graceful and at times moving.”

Before coming to ESU, Khelifi worked as an assistant legal manager at a petroleum company in Algeria.

“I always wanted to pursue my studies despite (that fact),” Khelifi said. “I was more interested in literature and philosophy, through which we can have a better understanding of the human nature.”

Storm said he has known Khelifi since he first arrived at ESU as a Fulbright FLTA (Foreign Language Teaching Assistant) in fall 2011, and he is pleased with Khelifi’s win.

“He is a deserving young man with a unique life experience,” Storm said, “who can use the prize money to support his studies as he makes his way through school so far from home.”

The small-town environment of Emporia was a new experience, compared to Khelifi’s urban background.

“I always say that ESU chose me,” Khelifi said. “I came here as a Fulbright Scholar. My application was sent to universities across America, and Emporia State was the first to respond.”

While it is very challenging for international students to live in a foreign country, Khelifi said, he found Emporia very welcoming and hospitable, and he has made many friends over the course of his time here.

Of those friends is Gloria Swift, senior administrative specialist. She met Khelifi when he arrived in August 2011 during international student orientation.

“He is a very deserving student,” Swift said. “We are all very happy for him.”

Currently, Khelifi is pursuing his masters in English and plans to graduate in December.

“Emporia State University is my home,” Khelifi said. “It is the place of my rebirth, my confidence that was lost and my future that was found. I will graduate from here one day, but Emporia State will always stay in my heart and as a future alumnus, I am willing to honor this university and be one of its huge contributors.”

 
Comics breathe life back into texts

Matt Upson, assistant professor of reference and Instruction, holds his comic “Supreme Librarians in Metaspace.” Upton creates comics that encourage library use.
Lingzi Su/The Bulletin

Libraries often have reputations as “boring place(s) where you can’t have any food or fun,” so says Matt Upson, assistant professor of reference and instruction.

But Upson, in his new role at Emporia State this semester, hopes to change that. Several years ago, when Upson was the library director at McPherson College, he had a lot of student staff members and “a lot of work to do.” In order to create a way to help students find resources that was both quick and engaging, Upson worked with a colleague at the college, C. Michael “Mike” Hall, who now works on comics full-time, to generate their first comic book, “Night of the Living Library.” The comic is about a zombie attack on a library where the students must do research in order to save themselves. Upson wrote the informational aspect of the comic, and Hall drew it.

“We wanted to make a series of short films to teach basic library skills to our student population,” Hall said, “but when we had to admit to ourselves that we didn’t have the budget to make films on the scale we wanted to create, we hit upon the idea of doing an instructional comic book.”

And their idea was successful to say the least. The two posted the comic book online in March 2011 – the book was downloaded over 1 million times in just a month. Now, all the comics Hall and Upson composed have over 2 million total downloads.

“It’s not just about books,” Upson said. “It’s about information. It’s about (students) finding the right resources to do well in their courses and knowing how to use information in the future.”

Upson and Hall are currently working on a full-size, 150-page textbook on information literacy and research skills that could also be used at ESU as a textbook for UL 100, Information Literacy and Technology. The University of Chicago would publish it, said John Sheridan, dean of the university library and archives.

Courtesy photo of one of Upton’s earlier comics.

“The University of Chicago is known for its conservative approach (to teaching) and so, if they are dipping their toes into comic textbooks, there is nobody better to lead them there than Matt Upson,” Sheridan said. “When the university library has someone on the staff accomplish something like that…our colleagues from different universities would be asking, ‘What are you doing next,’ and that’s not a bad place to be in.”

Sheridan said he’s always looking at ways to attract students, and he believes ESU has a lot to offer students in their studies and lifelong learning, but they have struggled with how to make the information engaging instead of dry – the comic book was a successful approach.

“(Upson) certainly is creative and very energetic, and he has a very good perspective and understanding of student learning styles and a flexibility to adapt his teaching style so it articulates well with the students’ learning styles,” Sheridan said.

Hall said research shows that through the use of visual aids, along with traditional texts, complex ideas are conveyed more efficiently and create a higher level of reader engagement.

The library has encountered quite a few students believing all they ever need is Google, Sheridan said, and that it takes “a little doing” to point out that there may be some better way to do research.

“It’s creative synergy at its finest, and the development of that synergy has been my favorite part of the relationship,” Hall said. “Plus, Matt’s one of my best friends. Getting to do creative stuff with the guy who introduced me to my wife? It doesn’t get any cooler than that.”

 
Aber continues family legacy

Jeremy Aber, instructor of physical sciences, discusses his job and his leisure time in his office. Aber moved his Neo-Geo arcade game into his office for storage as well as a break for both him and his students.
Jenny Pendarvis/The Bulletin

Joining the Emporia State faculty full-time this semester, Jeremy Aber is the third member of his family to become an instructor in the earth science department. His mother and father have both been teaching at ESU for over 30 years.

Aber’s father James, professor of physical sciences, said it is “no problem” having all three of them teaching at the university because they all have “different courses, specialties and interests.”

“It helps that I have some support,” Jeremy Aber said. “Not that the rest of the faculty aren’t supportive – they certainly are – but…it definitely is a little bit strange at times. Ten years ago I don’t know that I would have predicted (teaching with my parents), but it’s not a bad thing.”

Aber, an Emporia native, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in art from ESU in 2005, and completed his master’s degree in geography from Kansas State in 2007. He will also graduate with his Ph.D this December. Aber said he majored in art at first because ESU didn’t offer an undergraduate degree in geography, and art was “right up there with geography.”

“I did that partly because I wanted to be involved in the glass blowing department here, although I’m not really using the glass blowing skills that often today,” Aber said. “When I was growing up we traveled a lot. We lived in Europe, and we lived in Canada once, so I always liked learning about the world and learning about different places – whether that be the physical stuff or cultural stuff, (such as) people and languages. That’s what drove me more to geography.”

Aber said he had experience teaching at ESU before searching for full-time employment and was familiar with the community, so it was a good fit from that perspective.

“My interest as a college professor tends to be more focused on teaching rather than research, which is part of Emporia State’s mission,” Aber said.

One thing that helps relieve stress for Aber is a Neo-Geo arcade machine in his office that plays various video games. The games are on cartridges, so he said it’s kind of like having a “big arcade version of Nintendo.”

“I had this in my office at K-State as well, partly because I don’t really have room for it at my apartment,” Aber said. “I have some other games at home, but it’s nice to play a game for 10 minutes. It’s something fun (and a lot) of students ask to play it. I really don’t get to play it that often.”

Aber teaches Computer Mapping and Introduction to Earth Science (both the lecture and lab). He said he has an “open door policy,” so if students need assistance, he’s there. Because he resides in Manhattan, Aber’s office hours are limited, but Richard Landzettel, senior earth science major, said he is pretty quick to respond through emails.

“He helps cover all the classes that his father would normally teach that he can’t always cover and stuff. (Now), more of the computer classes can be offered without overloading Dr. (James) Aber,” Landzettel said.

Jaime Carlos, senior earth science major, said Aber carries himself well and that he is charismatic and knowledgeable about the software they use in Computer Mapping.

“He’s definitely an asset to the university,” Carlos said.

Small class sizes are also something that Aber said he enjoys about the school.

“When you really get into a lecture in a class, and you can tell students are engaged, it’s a lot of fun,” Aber said. “It’s just a lot easier to get to know students and sort of figure out what their needs are and actually know what their personalities are like.”

Aber said he is currently in a temporary teaching position at the university, but has applied for a permanent position for next year and hopes to stay.

 
Drum majors keep time and more

“It’s really a different side of the beast. A drum major is more than just a conductor. The biggest challenge is being one step ahead of the director, but the fun part of it is being able to move the band around and experiment with different positions and movements.”
– Marquis Scott

Ben Reilly, senior music education and music performance major, conducts the halftime performance during the football game Saturday at Welch Stadium. Reilly is the head drum major in the marching band.
Yohan Kim/The Bulletin

Marquis Scott, senior performance education major and member of the Wind Ensemble and Clarinet Choir, was announced as the Emporia State Marching Hornets’ newest drum major at the beginning of the semester.

“I didn’t really expect to become drum major,” Scott said. “It’s been hard but a lot of fun.”

Scott joined fellow drum majors Ben Reilly and Grant Saylor-Perkins preparation for the Marching Band Festival held yesterday at Welch Stadium.

Drum major applicants were required to attend a summer band camp up to 12 hours a day for the month leading up to the beginning of the fall semester. Scott said his new position as drum major was announced during one of the final band camp sessions on Aug. 7.

Scott also said there’s a lot more to the duties and details that drum majors have to mind than just “keeping the band in time.”

“It’s really a different side of the beast,” Scott said. “A drum major is more than just a conductor. The biggest challenge is being one step ahead of the director, but the fun part of it is being able to move the band around and experiment with different positions and movements.”

Nathan Gay, Marching Hornets director, said they hold auditions in the spring, where drum majors have to compete and that there is a questionnaire as well.

Saylor-Perkins, junior music education major, said that the Marching Hornets began rehearsing for the festival on Aug. 10.

“It’s a challenging piece for sure,” Perkins said, “but we made a lot of progress in rehearsals very quickly.”

The Marching Hornets performed three movements – “Amazonia,” “The Rising Sun” and “Drums of Thunder” from composer Peter Graham’s “Windows of the World,” a 30 minute piece that explores the music of Latin America, Japan and Africa. Gay said he had experience performing this piece while he was part of a brass band in Kansas City.

“I took out three of the movements and made it more suitable for marching music,” Gay said.

Reilley, senior performance education major, said it was fun practicing.

“We got a more challenging and interesting piece of music to perform at the festival this year,” Reilley said.

Gay said that in addition to the performance by the Marching Hornets, 13 high school marching bands performed at the festival, including bands from Emporia, Olathe, Gardner, Topeka, Wichita, Parson and Burlington.

 
The Measure of a Man: Andrew’s Story

Andrew’s Story

“Penis, vagina, breasts, and facial hair would be a lot less of an issue if society would just accept people for who they say they are.” – Andrew Leigh-Bullard

Andrew Leigh Bullard, library science graduate student, speaks on issues regarding transgender individuals Tuesday night in Science Hall, room 72, at “Voices of Witness.” Leigh came out as a transgendered individual in spring 2011 at P.R.I.D.E.’s Alternative Beauty Pageant.
Yohan Kim/The Bulletin

He came out as a transgender individual in spring 2011 to an audience at a drag show on campus. And since then, Andrew Leigh-Bullard, 23-year-old library science graduate student, has continued to live as the man he says he’s always needed to be.

“I’ve known that I was different my entire life, but I never understood what it was until (March 2011),” Leigh said. “That was when I started putting the pieces together. I came out first to myself then to a couple friends, then family, then at P.R.I.D.E.’s Alternative Beauty Pageant, I came out to a room full of 50 people and never went back.”

P.R.I.D.E. is a group at Emporia State that exists to support gender and sexual minorities. Leigh currently works as the graduate assistant for the office of Ethnic and Gender Studies and the Great Plains Center.

Although he’s now living as a man and has found acceptance – for the most part – in the Emporia community, the road to Leigh’s new identity has been a bumpy one with equal parts highs and lows.

The Transition

Born Amanda Bullard, Leigh spent the first 20 years of his life alone and usually depressed. He knew at a young age that he wasn’t anything at all like other girls, which did not go unnoticed by his peers. A favorite taunt was, “It’s a man. Duh.”

“Looking back, it’s actually a little ironic that they were picking up on something I had no idea of – they had something right,” Leigh said.

Before coming to terms with his transgender identity and beginning the transition, Leigh “had a lot of problems,” said Luke Wolford, 30, a former ESU student and close friend of Leigh.

“Amanda was not a happy person,” Wolford said. “She was depressive, never happy, hated herself, and I almost think threw herself into everything as a means of escape…she purposely kept herself busy, to the point of exhaustion, because she wasn’t happy with herself. Once ‘she’ decided to become ‘he,’ it’s really a whole different person.”

Leigh began transitioning almost immediately after coming out. He was on hormones by June and had his name changed by July 2011. He chose Andrew because it means “male” or “warrior” in Greek, and that dual connotation was what drew him to the name, he said. Leigh means “meadow” in Old English, but he wanted to keep his father’s last name, so he decided to hyphenate his surname as Leigh-Bullard.

Once living as a man, Leigh’s personality changed entirely. His self-confidence improved, and the depressive tendencies that once consumed his relationships with those closest to him disappeared.

“Now that the transition has happened, he’s so much more self-assured, so much more well-adjusted,” Wolford said. “It was literally like watching someone go from 13 years of age to 20 years of age within a matter of months. The confrontational attitude really scaled back. Amanda constantly had a chip on her shoulder. The littlest things set her off. She was hyper aggressive with people close to her, like she always had something to prove. Andrew is much more level headed, a lot more thoughtful, a lot more together.”

Leigh said since beginning the transition his energy level has noticeably increased, and he finally feels awake and active.

“So many different aspects have clicked or started to feel right,” he said. “I started to experience sexual attraction for the first time, really, when I got on hormones…I started seeing myself as an adult.”

Today, Leigh stands a little over five feet and sports a neatly-buzzed haircut and glasses. The testosterone treatments are working, not only for his libido – his voice is a high tenor. And his optimism is almost infectious. Most of the interview, even the parts that are painful to talk about, is full of laughter and smiles.

“Now that Andrew has transitioned, he’s finally happy with where he is, and it hasn’t been an easy road…it’s been hell,” Wolford said. “But I think that process of becoming someone who he feels he was always meant to be has had a profound impact on him.”

The transition, still an on-going process, has been a “roller coaster,” Leigh said, both physically and emotionally. When he first came out to his family, the reaction was not what he expected.

“I’d come out before as lesbian, as bisexual…I came out a lot, and each time it was just treated as, ‘Okay, you’re just figuring out who you are,’” he said. “When I came out as transgendered, I got the, ‘What did I do wrong? Do you understand what you’re doing?’ It really took time for them to accept that this has been here all along.”

But Leigh was dealt an even tougher blow when his brother, who Leigh asked to remain unnamed for privacy, decided he could no longer have contact with him because of career concerns. Leigh hasn’t spoken with his brother directly since June 2011. If he wants to talk, he has to send a text message to their mother so she can facilitate communication between the two.

“It always hurts because he and I were close,” Leigh said. “Our parents divorced when I was 16, and then he and I were our family. And now, I’ve lost him because society cannot allow him to be there for me.”

This February, Leigh’s mother, who asked to remain unnamed, send him a Valentine’s Day card addressed to her son, a gesture Leigh said finally meant she was accepting of his male identity.

Physical Challenges

Medically, the biggest obstacle Leigh has had to deal with is the lack of knowledge available about transgendered individuals. Doctors are not traditionally trained to be able to work with the trans community, even though being transgendered is a medical condition.

Leigh is formally diagnosed as a patient with gender dysphoria under DSM-5, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association.

The standards of care for treatment of individuals diagnosed with gender dysphoria or gender nonconformity are published by the World Professional Association for Transgendered Health.

“The guidelines state the transition is the recommended course,” Leigh said. “It is never recommended to suppress somebody’s gender identity.”

Leigh has been to five different doctors, and only one of them has had any prior experience with trans individuals, so he has had to educate each doctor he has been to – and it hasn’t been easy.

“One of his biggest frustrations is that he knows if he gets a job and he has to move, he’s going to have to start that process all over again,” Wolford said.

Another concern is the type of medical treatment he might receive.

“One of my greatest fears is to get in a car wreck and wake up in the hospital to find that they’ve reverted to treating me like a female because that’s what they see,” Leigh said. “I actually carry a medical card that says, ‘I am transsexual. Use male pronouns, and these are my medications.’”

A major setback to Leigh’s physical progress came last December when he was denied a hysterectomy surgery. Being on testosterone, his internal female organs will eventually atrophy, and he has two options. First, he could start another hormone called progesterone, which would force his body to have a menstrual cycle. But this is not a route Leigh is willing to take.

“It would destroy me…never again. Shark week is over. I’m done,” he joked.

Leigh’s other option, the one he hopes to be able to do eventually, is to get a hysterectomy. He actually had the surgery scheduled last December at KU Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan., but his insurance at the time, TRICARE, wouldn’t cover it, even though there are major health risks without it. The hospital’s payment plan was also undoable for Leigh.

“I had to come up with $10,000 in a week,” Leigh said. “I don’t make $10,000 in a year. So, at first, I just thought, ‘Well I just want to rip them out myself.’”

Leigh’s current insurance agency, United Health Care, also won’t cover the surgery.

Wolford said the setback was rough on Leigh, not only because of the health risks, but it was also the realization that he would have to continue to visit a gynecologist on a regular basis.

“He has to get back up there and basically be Amanda again for a doctor’s visit,” Wolford said. “Even though he’s Andrew, he’s masculine, he has to be subjected to something that men aren’t supposed to be subjected to.”

Leigh knew he couldn’t simply “rip” his female organs out himself, so instead, he went to Men’s Warehouse and bought a tailored suit for job interviews.

“I realized that while the transition as a whole was impossible at that moment, I could take smaller steps to be seen as who I am,” he said.

For now, the hysterectomy is off the table, but Leigh said his transition was complete when he started being comfortable with himself as a man, even though he doesn’t have a traditional “penis.”

“As far as having a penis, that doesn’t make a guy,” he said. “Does a soldier who’s hit by an IED whose genitalia is blown off, is he no longer a man? Would we ask that question of him? But we ask it of trans individuals all the time.”

But since beginning hormone treatments, Leigh has developed a neophallus.

“When you’re on testosterone the clitoris actually enlarges. In the uterus when a boy (starts producing) those hormones, (the clitoris) is actually what enlarges into the phallus,” he said. “So when a trans guy starts testosterone, over time the clitoris will enlarge to two to three times the original size…it’s about the size of a micropenis, if we’re going with strict, medical definitions.”

Leigh used to wear a packer, which is padding or a penis-shaped object worn in the front of a one’s pants or underwear to give the appearance of having male genitals, but he no longer wears it.

“It kept jostling around and getting uncomfortable, and you know, you have those hot days, and it would chafe,” Leigh said. “For me, I realized that having the packer in or out didn’t make me any more or less of a man, and so I just stopped bothering with it.”

As for his chest, Leigh wears a binder, which is a garment that compresses his chest and abdomen.

“Binders are recommended for use eight to 10 hours a day, at most, because of the pressure they put on the chest area,” Leigh said.

He is also hesitant to get top surgery because there is a major risk for loss of nipple sensation, which is a risk he’s not willing to take at this time.

“Penis, vagina, breasts, and facial hair would be a lot less of an issue if society would just accept people for who they say they are,” he said.

While he’s currently single, Leigh is a self-described pansexual, meaning he has the potential to be attracted to people of all sexes and gender identities.

“I’m attracted to people based on their personality, based on how I connect with them, and so what’s in their pants becomes an issue when we’re discussing what to do in the bedroom,” he said.

Coping with Trans Identity

Acceptance and respect as a man has been somewhat unpredictable for Leigh.

“For me, being respected as a man means being able to do the things I want to do, being able to identify as myself, being, ‘Hey man, what’s up,’ as opposed to, ‘Excuse me, ma’am,’” he said. “It really comes down to language.”

For the most part, Leigh said the discrimination he encounters is unintentional.

“It’s really interesting because you can get those open-minded people who really believe in equality for everyone,” Wolford said. “And then you can have individuals that are very close-minded, prejudice, that just shut off. And then you have people that are indifferent.”

But one source of support and acceptance came from an unexpected group.

Growing up, Leigh was a lonely individual by the time he reached his teens. He left the church he was raised in, which was fundamentalist Christian, when he was 14, after the youth group tried to help him fit in by giving him a makeover.

“It damn near broke me,” he said. “I didn’t understand who I was at that point. I didn’t know why it felt wrong. I just knew it wasn’t right.”

For the next seven years he identified as pagan in the sense of being non-Christian because he knew that he was not compatible with the belief system he was raised in.

After he transitioned, he decided to go back to church Christmas day “just to see.”

“I felt the spirit move in me, even knowing I could not talk to the congregation,” Leigh said. “I could not tell them anything about who I actually was, but I knew I needed to find a faith, a community who would support me and let me be who I was.”

Leigh found that community at St. Andrews Episcopal Church, located at 828 Commercial St. He’d heard good things about the ministry and decided to stop by one week. When he came out as transgendered, the church welcomed him with compassion.

“He’s a great person, really committed and caring,” said Father Kelly Lackey, Leigh’s priest at St. Andrews, in an interview in spring. “I think that in terms of our conversations and from my aspect as his priest, being able to be in a Christian community where he can be in a relationship with God and not have to deal with a great deal of intolerance and negativity seems to have been a positive thing for him.”

Leigh has been returned to the church for about eight months, but he sometimes still finds himself slipping. In reference to Westboro Baptist Church, an extremist group based in Topeka actively involved in the anti-gender and sexual minorities movement, Leigh said he sometimes engages in the same kind of prejudice.

“It becomes really hard to distinguish the fundamental, scriptural literalists, who hate me for being who God made me to be, from the congregation that has given me a home,” Leigh said. “It’s something that I’ve really noticed within the (gender and sexual minority) community is we have a lot of created tension between ourselves and faiths because of the discrimination we’ve run into in the churches we were raised, and so we tend to apply it to all churches.”

While Lackey said he could not speak as to why other churches are not always as open as St. Andrews, he did say that the Episcopal Church has always been somewhat progressive and open to diversity.

“We try to look at where the Holy Spirit is moving the church, and by and large what we see is, as Jesus presented the Kingdom of God, it’s expansive and it’s inclusive, and that’s not always comfortable, and it’s not always easy,” Lackey said. “But it seems like in order to be faithful to our charge to be followers of Christ, it’s our ministry, our obligation, to proclaim the good news to all of God’s children. The details of their struggle and living to be who God has created them to be is something that we’re not here to condemn – we’re here to offer support as they’re being formed to the image of God.”

Although Leigh has found acceptance in a faith-based community, he is still always on guard wherever he goes. Something as simple as going to the bathroom or changing in the men’s locker room at the recreation center on campus could turn into a violent situation in an instant.

“We’re in small town Kansas. I assume if someone sees me in the men’s locker room and questions me, I could be attacked for it,” he said. “So I go to my locker at the library, empty my pockets of everything, and then go change…when you read the stories, when you hear the news, and then you see the legislation of people disliking the concept of you based on their religion, based on their beliefs, based on their sense of what’s right, it makes it very difficult to feel comfortable that everyone you meet is not going to do something to try to harm you.”

While he hasn’t yet been attacked physically, Leigh has plans for wherever he goes. He recommends that if individuals who are transitioning feel unsafe, they should do something to raise their awareness of their surroundings and to prepare themselves for any scenario.

“Just know what you would do and who you would go to,” he said, “and prepare your friends.”

Wolford is one friend who Leigh knows he can turn to if something goes wrong or if he is attacked. The two have worked out a contingency plan of what they would do if such a situation ever occurred.

“If he has to defend himself and somebody gets hurts, he’s worried about getting charged with assault, getting charged with murder if it comes to that because it’s all too real a possibility,” Wolford said. “The biggest role I have is being there for his support.”

Leigh said there are not currently any accurate statistics on how many transgendered individuals are living in the United States because most do not live openly, mainly as a safety precaution.

But Leigh strives to be the exception and lives completely open because he wants to be a role model for other trans individuals who do not have anyone to turn to for support and guidance. And now that he is finally able to live as the man he feels he’s always been inside, he is excited for the future.

“I didn’t realize being trans and not acknowledging it was killing me,” he said. “A year ago, I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to function a couple months ahead. Now, I’m looking forward to the future. I have a degree and several different career options. I can do anything.”

 
Zoiks! has big plans for own brand of improv

Bryce Cooke, senior social science major, and Emma DePriest, junior secondary English education major, perform a skit at Zoiks! first show of the year last Wednesday in Bruder Theatre.
Cheyenne Broyles/The Bulletin

After a successful “Back 2 Kool” show in the Karl C. Bruder Theatre in King Hall last Wednesday, Bryce Cooke and the improvisational comedy group Zoiks! are preparing for the “All Hallows Eve” show at 10 p.m. on Oct. 30 in Albert Taylor Hall.

Cooke, senior social science major who has been a part of Zoiks! for five years and is currently art director, will end his last year at Emporia State and with the group with a series of improv comedy shows.

“It’s going to be our brand of improv comedy,” Cooke said.

Austin Schopper, senior secondary English education major who joined Zoiks! in spring 2010, said he is excited for the sketch activities they have planned. Cooke said although the group is very excited, they will be keeping a lot of the content for the shows “under wraps.”

“We want a lot of the acts to be a surprise,” he said.

Cooke said he finds Jim Gaffigan, Steve Carell and older material from Lonely Island influential. He said he also draws a little influence from movies like “Talladega Nights” and television shows like “Parks and Recreation.”

“I don’t really draw as much from movies and television as I do from stand-up (comedy),” Cooke said.

The “Back 2 Kool” show, Cooke said, was “packed” and that some people had to be turned away because the theater was at capacity. He said Zoiks! is also trying to set up a show for Nov. 14.

“We’re matching up with Union Activities Council and Associated Student Government,” Cooke said. “We invited all of the Greek houses. We are trying to set a record for largest student attendance and participation for a student-run activity.”

Schopper said the group has been competing in the Improv Thunderdome, a Kansas City-based improv comedy competition, “off and on for a long time.” This year’s competition was held in January at Westport’s Comedy City in Kansas City, Mo.

“A lot of the people we work with influence us,” Schopper said. “We work with a lot of other college improv groups.”

Andrew McCutcheon, sophomore theater major who is in his second year with Zoiks!, said he enjoys playing the new improv games the group comes up with.

“I grew up watching a lot of Jim Carrey movies,” McCutcheon said. “I drew some influence from his physicality.”

McCutcheon also said he does not watch much stand-up comedy and that most of his material is drawn from personal experience.

Cooke said he briefly performed stand-up comedy before he came to ESU and that he is definitely planning on doing comedy in the future.

“I would like to get back into it again or get involved with other local improv groups,” Cooke said. “My most recent solo stand-up act was at Leeds Center at Kansas University with a few other amateur stand-up artists from the Kansas City area.”

 
Former Bulletin editor soars with Eagle

Courtesy photo of Ryan

After graduating from Emporia State in May 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and a minor in journalism, Kelsey Ryan, former editor-in-chief of The Bulletin, took a job as the education reporter for The Joplin Globe in Missouri, the same paper she held an internship at two years prior. She also married Kellen Jenkins, former multimedia editor for The Bulletin, that June. Today, she is a business writer for The Wichita Eagle, one of the state’s largest newspaper.

But on May 22, 2011, a massive and damaging tornado swept through Ryan’s future residence, making it a hectic transition into her first, professional job.

“I was coming back from Kansas City from my bachelorette party when I found out about the tornado,” Ryan said. “We asked our friends for canned goods and water and things…we packed and left the next morning.”

Thrust into her new job, Ryan and her fiancée had to frantically search for an apartment. She worked there the week following the tornado before returning to Emporia to prepare for her wedding.

“It was pretty depressing to be in that area the day after it happened, but it was something that when you’re a journalist in a new town, you need to experience the town in the way that everybody else does that lives there,” Ryan said.

As a student at ESU, Ryan was a Bulletin staffer for nearly the entirety of her studies – three and a half years. She started as a staff writer in the second semester of her freshman year and worked her way up to editor-in-chief by her junior year.

“As soon as I started working for The Bulletin, I knew I wanted to get at least a minor in journalism,” Ryan said.

As editor, Ryan was faced with problem of choosing a new printer when the Emporia Gazette shut down its printing press, and the paper switched to the Lawrence Journal World. She also revamped the paper’s website, started social media accounts, hired someone to handle the programming aspect of the website, redesigned the fonts used in the paper and redesigned the logo.

“It basically got a complete makeover as far as the design of the paper,” Ryan said.

In her senior year, The Bulletin won the All-Kansas award, the highest honor given by the Kansas Associated Collegiate Press.

Max McCoy, associate professor of English, faculty adviser for The Bulletin, and one of Ryan’s former instructors, said Ryan was an exceptional researcher, and with her leadership skills, set the tone for her staff and all the staff of The Bulletin that has followed.

“Being the editor… it’s no easy task,” McCoy said. “Everything you do is very public. It’s a very steep curve. Overall, Kelsey did a great job, and I think, like other editors, she probably learned as much from her mistakes as she did from her successes. When people criticize student newspapers, they need to remember that it’s published by students.”

Ryan’s dedication to journalism is also somewhat ironic because she is, in fact, allergic to newsprint ink. On a field trip in the fourth grade, her class visited the local newspaper office. When they reached the printing press, she passed out. She said she still needs to be careful when dealing with ink today, but that doesn’t stop her.

“She certainly demonstrated a talent for journalism and a passion for it as well,” McCoy said.

Ryan said she enjoyed her position with the Globe, but that being three and a half hours away from her family in Topeka was challenging.

“Being in Joplin and hearing people say time after time, ‘We lost our house, but at least we have each other still,’ it was a reminder to me that my family is here in Kansas,” Ryan said.

At the Eagle, Ryan will cover stories on health care and retail on the business end of the paper.

“It’s a whole other area that I’ve never covered before,” Ryan said. “When it comes down to it, the basic skills are still the same…the subject matter is new, so I’m having to research that. I’m also going to have to do extra thinking now in order to do more investigative reporting.”

Ryan said she suggests three things for students who desire a good job after college – get an internship, learn a second language and study abroad. Those experiences set you apart from competitors, she said.

“One of the advantages of ESU is that students develop contacts with their professors,” said Rob Catlett, professor of economics and director of the Center for Economic Education. “Professors can sometimes open doors (and) help students in the internship market. I’m positive that Kelsey’s internship helped because I remember when she came back after that and she was just really excited and pumped up about it…it’s kind of like a pre-employment.”

Catlett also said that he is pleased that ESU has another successful graduate.

Jenkins is currently a videographer for a reality television show with a rural theme, “Tough Grit,” which premiered last week on RFDTV.

 
About the Health Guy

Ferris

Greg Farris is a senior at Emporia State studying health promotion and chemistry. This dual background shapes his approach to health.

“I enjoy the science, while also understand that hands on outside of the lab experience. I also practice what I preach,” he said.

This fall he started personal training at the rec center on campus in preparation for his first bodybuilding competition and applying to graduate school for nutritional sciences.

Greg’s goal for “Health-E” is to educate students about everything health.

“Friends know me as the guy who can fit some ice cream or pop tarts in his diet and still see results. That’s what I’m all about. Making health enhance all other areas of your life. Be flexible, not obsessive.”