Off the Clock

Columbia-native band David Wax Museum was recently in town to play a show at Rose Music Hall, and KBIA's Jane Mather-Glass caught up with them to talk about their Missouri roots and what it's like performing in your home town. 

The accessibility of porn on the internet has allowed kids of all ages to be introduced to sex. KBIA's Veronica Mohesky spoke with Derek Landes and Cale Mitchell of Spectrum Health Care about some of the common misconceptions about porn, and how it might not be the best option for sex education. 

Sometimes an artist just knows a person’s going to love their work. Jefferson City native Adrienne Luther knows when people ask her to doodle their cat, she’ll win their hearts.

But Luther does more than just doodle cats. She makes portraits, lettering and logos. She doesn’t want you to think she’s a starving artist. After all, thanks to Instagram, she’s not.

“I think when people think of people who are full-time artists, they think of people that have a stockpile of paintings that they haven't sold, that are just piled up in their sunroom, and who, you know, are just like smoking weed and painting all the time,” Luther said.

While Luther has a sunroom, she’s often in coffee shops making her art.

“The internet has really allowed me to stay afloat,” Luther said. “So I can just put something up on Instagram and sell it there. So I'm constantly hustling, but it's really fulfilling.”

Luther used to follow friends on her Instagram but felt it was becoming draining. She didn’t want to feel in competition with everyone, so she decided to only follow artists.

“My relationship with Instagram has really evolved,” Luther said. “And it was really scary at first to post my art because it felt vulnerable, and I didn't know what the hell to put in a caption.”

Once she started to just “be weird” with her posts, Luther said her work really took off. The Instagram story feature helped as well. Now, her followers are mostly in Columbia, St. Louis, Kansas City and Jefferson City.

“The engagement feels a little bit more authentic," she said, "than if I was just interacting with thousands of strangers."

The Sweaters are a band born and bred in Columbia, Mo. Since they started playing music together a few summers ago, they’ve hit many of the local music venues around town, opening for touring artists or playing their own shows. They even played at a stage at Roots ‘n Blues music festival, and at True/False Film Festival. Ben and Henry Cohen and Anders Harms are The Sweaters—and they’re all playing and performing their way through their teenage years.

KBIA's Veronica Mohesky sat down with OB/GYN Jennifer Su to discuss how she intertwines her faith into her work. Su is based out of Jefferson City and owns her own practicw. Hear their full conversation about online birth control and accessibility on Missouri Health Talks here. 

For veterans, life after combat can be challenging. Jefferson City resident and direct sales vendor Reesa Sellnow knew that and wanted to make a difference. Her husband is in the National Guard.

I have always been a nerd about comic books. I can remember reading issues of X-Men and Teen Titans and whatever I could get my hands on, as a kid. So when I walked into the Univerity of Missouri's Special Collections and Rare Books at Ellis Library and saw four ten-foot tables covered in comics and comic art – I kind of freaked out.

Fall is just around the corner, and Columbia's Office of Cultural Affairs is getting ready to kick off several major events for the season. Columbia will play host to everything from music festivals, like Roots N Blues, to an African dance and percussion celebration. KBIA spoke with Elise Buchheit from the Columbia Office of Cultural Affairs about the events to look out for this fall. A full list of events can be found at the Office of Cultural Affairs calendar. 

On campuses across mid-Missouri students and faculty are wrapping up the semester, and on this edition of Off the Clock we visit a unique end-of-term tradition hosted by MU's Ancient Mediterranean Studies department: The Homer-athon. It's a celebration of "The Iliad," in multiple languages, and KBIA's Olivia Love captured the languages and the sounds of the recent 25th annual Homer-athon, on May 10th. 

Missouri has one of the oldest trditional arts apprecticeship programs in the United States. And every year, the Missouri Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program sponsors eight master artists and their apprentices - for teaching, sustaining and promoting a tranditional art form - here in Missouri. 

KBIA's Seth Bodine caught up with one of this year's master-apprentice duos to find out about a classical Indian dance being practiced here in the middle of Misouri: Bharatanatyam. 

On this edition of Off the Clock, producer Emily Aiken visits the Pennytown Freewill Baptist Church, a small rural churchhouse that holds a world of history and memories of the families who formed and lived in Pennytown. The town was founded by freed slave Joe Penny in 1871. Today, family members like Virginia Huston congregate at the church to reflect on their past and keep the spirit alive for their descendants. You can see the full story here. 

Black Women Rock is a production showcasing remarkable Black Women chosen by the Columbia community, highlighting their hard work and accomplishments. Executive Coordinator Akinbamidele Durodola talks about the production and black women who motivate him.

After months working to comply with state regulators, the only pig museum in the United States is open again for business. As KBIA’s Seth Bodine reports, the museum's owner dedicated herself to agricultural education after some unexpected life events.

Since breaking into mainstream media, eSports has fought for its space in athletics. Faced with conflicts for a spot in the Olympics and against misconceptions from the public, eSports is finding an audience in a new generation.

Now, universities across the country, including the University of Missouri, are taking the first steps toward potentially bringing eSports closer to legitimacy. KBIA’s Noah Taborda has the story.

Afrosexology is a duo of women based in St. Louis who aim to reclaim black sexuality. Dalychia Saah teaches aspiring sex educators and sex therapists. Rafaella Fiallo is a clinical social worker and relationship, sex and trauma therapist. The duo recently visited MU to lead a self-love workshop. Isabel Lohman spoke with the them about how we can bring pleasure into our daily lives, the cultural tropes we fall for and what Afrosexology actually means. 

The Relevant Youth is a student run creative agency disrupting education through innovation. In this edition of Off the Clock, the organization's Diveristy and Inclusion Manager Alycia Washington talks about her first event. Black Alchemy is a celebration of the black creative. And Miriam Akogu, a featured artist, talks about her art being displayed for the first time and what it means to meet other creatives in town. The event featured seven artists and a live performance by local band Loose Loose. 

Columbia artist Sarah Nguyen has never attended the True/False Film Fest, and her first experience will certainly be a memorable one.

Her installation “Break Into Blossom” will be featured at the 2019 festival. Nguyen, who has lived in Columbia for less than a year, said she feels very honored to be part of the festival.

“This festival has so much weight in my mind,” she said. “I'm just psyched. I can't wait to meet the students and see the parades and, of course, see all of the other art installations and then the films.”

The True/False Film Festival is here and KBIA has been talking with filmmakers and artists.

Aviva Okeson-Haberman spoke with the director of Mike Wallace is Here, a documentary that examines the legacy of the legendary 60 minutes anchor.

Director Avi Belkin says he wanted to examine the life of a man who shaped broadcast news today. 

Two Mizzou grads worked together to create and open the only black-owned and millenial-owned business in Columbia. The Greens Co. is a boutique and curation space located at 16 N. Nith St., in downtown Columbia. Co-Owner Marquise White says, "The Greens is the backyard in which our dreams are actualized."

Los Angeles based artist Rikki Wright's photography exhibit "SIS" will be up until March 7, 2019.

For more information follow @thegreensco on Twitter and Instagram.

Down in a side room in the basement of Hickman High School, two juniors, Conor Byrne and Sam Wills, broadcast their radio show called Dad Rock World Tour. They speak into a small laptop computer about the different songs they are about to play and it echoes through the halls with the students as they make their way to lunch.

The 90s, hipster aesthetic of the high school junior’s radio show matches perfect with the old band posters on the walls and the dimly-lit closet the radio studio is essentially in. Every day during lunch, students can come and sit on the worn down couches as a part of the club, Academy of Rock. They can visit with their friends while they eat, talk about their favorite bands and listen to the DJs.

From Shark Tank to Startup Weekends, entrepreneurship is a growing craze in the nation. More than 25 million Americans are starting or running new businesses. The University of Missouri is the latest to encourage innovation on campus. KBIA’s Betsy Smith has more on MU’s new Entrepreneur Quest Pitch Competition. 

Over 100 MU students and faculty members gathered in Monsanto Auditorium Monday morning at the first Entrepreneur Quest Pitch competition. 

A tipi sat outside the Daniel Boone Regional Library on a mid-September afternoon to teach people some valuable lessons about Native American identity. KBIA’s Betsy Smith has more on how one interdisciplinary artist tested people’s knowledge of what it means to be an Indian today. When it comes to modern representations of native culture, everything might not be what it seems.

Alex Cunningham, a violinist from St. Louis, is in a trio that will most likely never play at a mainstream festival. Their music is an acquired taste.

Cunningham had no notes to memorize when he played with a trio made up of a saxophone player and a drummer at the dimly-lit Café Berlin last Friday. Their performance is completely improvisational. He said the trio aims to make spur-of-the-moment music. And the result, he said, is chaotic.

The 12th annual Roots N Blues N BBQ Festival featured students from Grant Elementary School.

As a part of the Roots N Blues Foundation, artists from all over the country spend the week in Columbia with students, teaching some history of blues music, writing songs and ending the week here in Flat Branch Park, showing their community what they’ve learned.

KBIA’s Molly Dove had VIP Access with the Grant Elementary Blues Corp to see “what’s going on.”