horizon magazine: simply inspired. brilliantly executed

simply inspired brilliantly executed

SPRING 2012, VOL. 13 ISSUE 2

HORIZON

simplyinspired

brilliantlyexecuted

2 | H O R I Z O N M A G A Z I N E

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S I M P L Y I N S P I R E D B R I L L I A N T L Y E X E C U T E D | 3

table of contents

culture | simple t radit ions brilliant legacies

18. passion’s promenade22. a need for music24. tiny creations to spacious buildings26. recipe for success28. small town big plans30. trans-siberian railway32. naturally inspired

people | simple dreams brilliant minds

8. strength in experience10. smart kid swagger14. the basic human element

26

meet the teame d i t o r s

charlie blackmer assistant editor photo editor ad/promotionsdesign editor

james redmond anthony himeskelly hill

p h o t o g ra p h e r s & s a l e s / p ro m o t i o n s

parker eyrich katie bock michelle mcdowell

d e s i g n e r s

melissa gorin monee slaughterheather king

w r i t e r s

michael wong katie hulstrom ashley foley

let ter from the editor-in-cheif

k a t i e s c h u l t z

M otivation and inspiration come in many forms. We’ve all found ourselves sitting on a couch pitching ideas back and

forth between friends on how we are going to change the world. Yet, there are very few people who actually turn that idea which inspired them into an actual act.

With graduation right around the corner, this is my last semester at Colorado Mesa University. There are many things that I’ve learned about passion and motivation based on the decisions I have made and those decisions made by the people around me.

A person’s life is based on these decisions. Whether these decisions are good, bad, ugly, or indifferent, they always stem from the things that motivate that person. It is also easy to get those true personal motivators lost in the shuffle of the things we think we “need” to do everyday.

I’ll be the first to admit that at times I jump on board every project I can find. Each year there always seems to be something new and exciting that I want to accomplish. People always ask me why I do all the things I do. At times I never really know how to answer, but when I think about it, I’m reminded of when I used to be a music the-atre major. My mentor, Jeremy Franklin, would have said “The minute the theatre is no longer fun, quite.”

Even though I hung my theatre shoes up a long time ago, those words still ring true to every

job or career path that I or anyone could take today. The reason I do what I do is because I love every second of it. I love to create, I love to in-novate, I love to tell stories. That is why the sto-ries told through the pages of this issue, are the stories about people who have not only been inspired to do something, but also motivated enough to brilliantly execute their goals.

So from all the graduating seniors to the freshmen finishing up their first year of school, it would be easy for me to say we are the future and we will do great things, but it goes far be-yond that today. Lots of us will be inspired to do something, but few of us will actually be moti-vated enough to accomplish every idea that in-spires us, and that is ok.

As I begin to look for a job and finish up my last year, I’ve slowly started to realize that you don’t have to be everything to everybody. If I had one piece of advice to give it would be something that my dad always tells me. At the end of the day you, and everything that makes you who are, is enough.

finding your element

simple dreamsbrilliant minds


people


R oyce Young, 33 years old and a full-time stu-dent at Colorado Mesa University, wipes the sweat from her forehead and takes a long,

deserved drink of water. One hand on her hip, the other grasping the dirty shovel handle onto which she is leaning, Young takes a moment to survey her work, and the work of about 130 other vol-unteers. From where she is standing high on the Hanging Lakes Trail, she can look down and see the progress that she and the others have made moving large rocks into place by hand, creating an informal staircase up the side of the mountain as part of a trail restoration project.

Young has given her time, braved the ele-ments and burned some serious calories this particular weekend on behalf of Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC), a non-profit organiza-tion whose objective it is to “motivate and enable citizens to be active stewards of Colorado’s natural resources.” Young often teams up with VOC and other like-minded organizations in the name of service and experience, things she believes are an essential part of her education in Environmental Science at CMU. That is why in May of 2011, Young

created Environmental Networking for Volun-teering Students (ENVS), a student club through which those studying Environmental Science are encouraged and enabled to gain experience di-rectly related to their field.

Due to Young’s staunch belief in the impor-tance of service, experience for ENVS members almost always takes the form of volunteer work: trail monitoring with the Colorado Canyon’s As-sociation; willow plantings for the Bureau of Land Management; restoration projects with Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado; and hikes with the Colorado Environmental Coalition, just to name a few.

Though she treasures each of her numerous volunteer experiences with ENVS, Young admits that the Hanging Lake Trail was her favorite.

“It’s pretty amazing to work as a team, hoisting a 200 pound rock to where you need it to be, mak-ing it look like it’s always been there,” Young said.

Lifting 200 pound rocks without the use of machinery on your free time might seem a little unbelievable to most, and that’s just what you will think of Young when you take the time to talk with her: unbelievable.

strength in experiencethe education of royce young

story by charlie blackmer | photos by michelle mcdowell

P E O P L E | 9

“Royce is an amazingly organized person- to be able to work many hours, be a full-time stu-dent and get this club going. She has definitely persisted,” said Dr. Tamera Minnick, professor of Environmental Science at CMU and faculty advi-sor to ENVS.

Young is short, yet powerful. When she speaks, matter-of-factly and to the point, every-one listens. Not to mention that her intense green eyes do a lot of the talking. She knows what she wants, and she makes it happen.

When not acting as President and Vice-Pres-ident of ENVS, serving on CMU’s Earth Science Honor Society, or in class, Young can be found at a local restaurant where she bartends at nights and on the weekends. In the rare moments that she is found not working or studying, she is making local contacts in the environmental science field, braving her asthma, hiking desert and mountain trails for volunteer projects; and when she isn’t volunteering in the outdoors as a means to gain personal experience, Young is working for others.

Young was a driving force behind this fall’s successful Breast Cancer Walk, forming the first ever campus-wide breast cancer team, recruiting participants and rounding up donations.

“I had some help from student government manning the table at the University Center but other than that, it was mostly just me,” Young said.

Through her seemingly tireless efforts, $1,200 for breast cancer research was raised by the CMU team.

Despite her extensive list of current extra-cur-ricular activities and the intense determination she exudes, Young has not always been the industrious person that most people now know her to be. Born and raised in Grand Junction, she found herself im-mersed in the wrong kind of crowd at an early age.

“I was into drugs pretty heavily. My whole life I was told that I would be a dropout, pregnant at 17,” Young said.

At 19, she decided to defy others’ expecta-tions of her and make a change. She saved up just enough money to move to Florida with the intent of “bettering” herself. There she attended Day-tona State College, making it onto the All Florida

Academic Team before earning her Associate’s Degree. After Daytona State, Young briefly stud-ied Civil Engineering at Florida International Uni-versity before surprising others and herself, doing a major about-face and directing her educational trajectory towards environ-mental science.

“People wanted me to do civil engineering, but I knew I wanted to work with the land, not build freeways on top of it,” Young said.

Her journey from then to now has been 14 hard-working years in the mak-ing, with trials and tribula-tions in between. However, Young has not strayed from the goal she set as a trou-bled teenager: to better herself. Thinking back on her experience with drugs and people’s former per-ceptions of her, she smiles proudly as she says, “now I am the furthest thing from that.”

Young is relentless in her work and efforts, mo-tivated most by her determination to overcome a murky past, to aim higher and challenge others’ ex-pectations, to constantly better herself and others.

“Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t do something,” Young said.

Young is the first to admit that it’s never really easy, but her parting words exemplify an attitude that most of us could stand to adopt: “All I can do is keep trying.”

L: Royce Young C: group of volunteersR: Royce Young

“People wanted me to do civil

engineering, but I knew I wanted to work with the

land, not build free-ways on top of it.”

-Royce Young

1 0 | H O R I Z O N M A G A Z I N E

smart kid swagger

P andora. iTunes. Multiple mix tapes. For this kind of success to happen to anyone is a big deal, but to accomplish these feats as a col-

lege student is even more impressive. However, what if music isn’t even the artist’s biggest goals and aspirations in life? Sylvester James Thabit, a student at Colorado Mesa University, has accom-plished all these feats as a musician, but it’s only a small part of what he does on campus. His leader-ship is something that is noticeable by students and teachers. Despite his popularity, he doesn’t want to think of himself as a higher product of CMU.

“I wake up, I brush my teeth, eat maple bacon every day,” Thabit said. “I go to work at [Black Stu-dent Alliance]. I go to class. This is my senior year as a marketing student, so I’m in all the upper-division classes. Then I hit the gym for about an hour. I go to the studio for some music, then I get to just go home and be me.”

Thabit, more commonly known as Sly tha Deuce, has successfully put out four mix tapes and three studio albums (all available online), has made his way onto iTunes, and even has his own channel on Pandora.

“Things are going great and really low-key, which is how I wanted it to be,” Thabit said. “I got on Pandora recently, I just released another project on iTunes called ‘Worth the Buzz,’ and I’m shooting a video for a song called ‘M.I.T.Y.’ and I’m working on an album called ‘Confessions of a Good Guy,’ which will be my best by far.”

Don’t expect Sly to become the biggest named rapper for years to come. When it’s all said and done, he just wants to be proud of what he’s done, wheth-er it’s music or life in general.

“I want my music to be a meal at my banquet table,” Thabit said. “As much as it is a passion, I don’t want to be Flavor Flav. My true passion is ac-

story by anthony himes | photos by michael wong

the story of sly tha deuce

P E O P L E | 1 1

tually acting. I’m a thespian at heart, but you can’t just act in front of random people and be popular like you can with music.”

As far as motivation for his music, Thabit doesn’t really have any. He uses his “book smarts” for inspiration in his lyrics, something most artists don’t use.

“I’ve just been doing it as a kid,” Thabit said. “It turned into a way for me to connect with more people. I’m definitely the founder of smart kid swagger. I’m all about getting in the books and nerding it out.”

Thabit has been all about education since he was a kid. With a family history of scholars and college degrees, he knew he couldn’t disappoint.

“As a kid, I didn’t have a lot of friends,” Thabit said. “I was short, chubby and had giant glasses, but because of that I’ve always had vocabulary and have always been good with words. I’m really

into poetry and that’s where it started.”Thabit is from Denver. He started a produc-

tion company with some friends called Sublimi-nal Productions, but to be successful, he knew that he had to leave Denver.

“Music is actually the reason I left Denver,” Thabit said. “I had opportunities to perform at little clubs every week. I didn’t want to get caught up in a ‘Fifty dollars a week’ type contract because that’s weak. I wanted to come and get a degree and I wanted to get everything the right way.”

Thabit feels that one of the biggest stepping stones for a better future is a college degree. Edu-cation is his biggest goal in life.

“Knowledge is power. I mean that’s basic,” Thabit said. “You can either sell the dream or buy the dream. That’s what I’ve observed. My grand-father has a doctorate. My brother has a master’s. My two aunts on my mom’s side have a doctorate.

“I’m definitely the founder of smart kid swagger. I’m all about get ting in the books and

nerding it out.”-Sylvester James Thabit

Sylvester Thabit


It’s always just been taught to me. As a kid edu-cation was my thing. Education has been my tal-ent. My parents have always told me to not be the player, but the owner. Steve Jobs wasn’t the most macho guy, but he changed the world. I want to be that guy. I don’t care if I’m famous, I just want to help change the world.”

Thabit gets much of his pride as President of BSA. As a people-person himself, it’s a way of get-ting close with many people that are just like him.

“I get so much experience from it that I wouldn’t have received if I didn’t get involved,” Thabit said. “I get to meet other students that have the same mind for leadership that I do. They all get involved like I do. You can get really dis-couraged a lot of times. A lot of people come to college thinking it’s what they see on TV. They wanna get drunk and they wanna party. But there are those people who want a degree as part of a plan to get somewhere else. I’m one of those people and so are the ones I’m around in BSA.”

Being a part of BSA, Thabit gets to interact with people of importance not only on campus, but around many communities.

“I like that I get to network with so many like-minded individuals,” Thabit said. “I get to meet a lot of community members. I not only feel a part of the school, but a part of this community. I’m not from here so it’s definitely an enriching expe-rience. I get to learn a whole lot about black his-tory and black culture. And then I get to take those learning experiences and share them with BSA.”

A big part of BSA that Thabit likes is that it’s not about race, but about culture and communi-ty. He likes to express that BSA is all about getting closer with all other races and cultures.

“It’s much about breaking down race,” Thabit said. “It’s not Black Only Student Alliance, but we

have an alliance with the other cultures. We are just trying to bring diversity into everyday culture.”

Older brothers are usually an annoyance to younger siblings. That’s no different for Thabit. But rather than be jealous of his older brother and all his accomplishments, he looks up to him as his biggest role model.

“[My brother] is a lieutenant commander in the navy,” Thabit said. “He owns his own ship and own crew. He has taught me a lot about real es-tate and has even let me work for him, but he’s my older brother and I have to be better than him. He’s just so awesome and for me to do that I have to somehow be more awesome, but I’m down for the challenge.”

When it’s all said and done, Thabit wants to make sure everyone cherishes education as much as he has. To him, nothing beats education.

“I want to bring edu-tainment to the people in the form of media,” Thabit said. “I love the me-dia and I love the ability to get any information out. I don’t like how it’s bull that’s getting out. There really are apps on phones that can really save your life, but people use their phones for Facebook and Youtube. I want to put out educa-tional stuff. There are ways to learn while having fun. I want to be a smart kid in disguise and want people to feel like it’s okay to talk to me. I want to show education as a cool thing and that it’s al-right to be smart.”

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the basic human element

T here is nothing that has inspired us more throughout history than love. It is the most powerful element of our human nature and the most natural thing that exists in our man-made world. It has inspired people to write songs,

recite poetry and create films. It has brought to life art and theatre from the joy and tragedy we experience while falling into this instinctive thing called love. One thing is for sure; anything is possible with love and nothing is possible without it. Through these overwhelming feelings love has changed the world in countless ways, and it is what makes life worth living.

photos by michelle mcdowell

Guitars, Drums & AmpsPlug it in. Turn it up. Be the band.

CriterionC o l o r a d o M e s a U n i v e r s i t y

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simple traditionsbrilliant legacies


culture


passion’s promenadelocal venue provides a unique experience for

local bands and our community’s youth

C U L T U R E | 1 9

“Cava l cade is a mixture of the things we are passionate about.”

-Cullen Purser

story by james redmond | photos by michael wong

C avalcade, of Fruita, Colo. is more than a place. It is an idea made manifest. Around each wall and in every corner the very

concept of Cavalcade seeps into reality. The main room seems small at first, then each little part of it opens up and size suddenly seems much larger.

Cavalcade means procession or dramatic sequence and this is just what it provides. Cavalcade offers music, poetry, performances, speakers, discussions and art all in one place, one after another.

It did not start out exactly as it is today. First it was called Mirth. Mirth was an attempt by Josh Ott and Max Connors to make a place that could be looked at as Fruita’s living room.

It grew from there when Mirth attracted two more interested parties: Michelle Cools and Cul-len Purser. Cools makes clothes from pieces and parts, and started to show her work in the back of Mirth. Purser, a musician and a storyteller, found in Mirth a venue of people who actually wanted to listen and learn.

“I used to host lectures by what was Mesa State College in a building that is now the Pita Pit… and I wanted to do that again,” Purser said.

Mirth encountered some troubles and pres-sure from the city and looked like it was on the way out.

“You have something nice and interesting and cool and the government comes and takes it away,” Purser said.

Mirth was no longer. There were those who had grown attached to the place, the idea. Some people were not ready to let it go.

“[Cools] and I did not want to lose this special place,” Purser said.

Ott and Connors left Mirth and Purser and Cools stepped up. One of the projects that Purs-er started at Mirth was Cullen Purser’s Cavalcade of Interesting People, so when a new name was needed to lose some of the associated stigmas

that Mirth carried with it, Cavalcade was chosen.“[Cavalcade] is a mixture of the things we

are passionate about… It is a venue for growing, learning, and expanding. I love the word inspire, I hate how it is mis-used though. That being said people come away [from Cavalcade] inspired,” Purser said.

That is a mission statement of sorts for Cavalcade; to be something whole-some and needed for artists and per-formers of all kinds. The unique culture of Cavalcade has lead to a variety of performing artists and bands playing there. The bands that come, which Ken Kreie has played a large role in finding, get to experience a venue that, while small, places an importance on the artists and their art.

“These days it is critical for a performer to ac-tually perform. We are something different… this is a respite for bands. We can not pay them what they deserve, we can treat them like humans though. It is crazy that some of these bands have came here and that they want to come back,” Purser said.

Cavalcade tries to appeal to the musician’s artist and not necessarily their wallet. By cater-ing towards the band not the audience they can bring in and bring back larger acts that might not otherwise come to such a small town or venue.

Catering to the band does not stop at treating them like people, a large part of the Cavalcade’s appeal is in its audience. It draws an audience that looks, listens, and feels. Purser feels that this attentive and appreciative audience is part what


draws these bands into both coming to perform and wanting to return.

There is more than music to Cavalcade. Cools now sells her clothes from a store connected to the back called the Vintage Common, where they also sell and show some of the creations of Sam Benham. Benham makes his living repairing old sewing machines.

“[Benham] is this brilliant tinkered,” Purser said.Along the wall of Cavalcade is an old piano

that was saved on its way to being junked. Ben-ham took the piano and reworked the entire in-terior, slowly bring the sound of the piano to its former glory. Benham would bring the piano out in front of Cavalcade so people could watch the progress and transformation of the piano.

“We craft in public,” Purser said. “People start to gather around, to congregate and that is magical. There is another word that is misused. What hap-pens here really is magical though… This place is

made of the ingredients of us,” Purser said.Cavalcade is like a climbing spiral staircase,

each idea and person building off each other. Ev-eryone there is an artist, a musician, a salvager. It is a place for growth both on a personal and com-munity level. Just like a family they all support and help each other reach further and try new things. Procession is a moving thing and Cavalcade is no different. It keeps growing and moving forward.

cullen pruser

C U L T U R E | 2 1

general information & ticket [email protected] or call (970) 260-5413

to book [email protected]

creative writing & youth rock [email protected] or call 970-858-9632

open crafting & sewing [email protected]

tinker/open mic/guitar lessons/[email protected] or call (970) 433-4097

educational wednesday [email protected] or call (970) 260-5413

information on cavalcade201 e. aspen st.fruita, co. 81521

(970) 260-5413

www.cavalcadefruita.com


W e all have things that inspire us. Whether they drive our personal creative processes or motivate us to accomplish the goals we set for ourselves, inspiration is what keeps the world going round. Music reaches farther than most man-made things do, it can touch the soul. The excitement of the beats

can drag you out of a bad mood and out of your seat. It can instantly bring up long lost memories and feelings ranging from despair to joy. It can even change the course of your life. We use music to entertain, enlighten, relax and bring people together. Depending on your own experiences and perceptions, we are inspired by the world around us to do new and better things. Music has enriched and touched our lives in profound ways, and it always will.

a need for musicphotos by michelle mcdowell

the bands featured are the shif t and zolopht and the destroyers

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O N L I N E E D I T I O N


tiny creations to spacious buildings

A rt around campus can make the campus look spectacular, but there is something else that drives people to make the extraordinary pieces that are put on display, or hidden away in sketchbooks. It could be the fin-

ished product, the journey to get to the masterpiece, or the enjoyment of making something all on your own. Drawing, painting, creating, designing keeps every artist motivated in their own way to make something spectacular.

photos by parker eyrich

C U L T U R E | 2 5


recipe for successthe creativity of small businesses

story by kelly hill | photos by michael wong

A s the valley continues to grow, so does the amount of competition between small businesses and large chains. With each new

big business sprouting up in the valley, many see it in a positive light. Large businesses force origi-nality from the locally-owned businesses, allow-ing them to find their own niché.

A new aspiration, a long awaited dream, an opposite direction: these are the three main in-gredients needed to unravel a locally owned res-taurant. The sound of laughter, the feel of a re-laxed atmosphere, a refreshing taste and a pinch of inspiration are the elements needed to set the stage in making a family based business successful.

The Grand Valley is home to many locally owned and family based restaurants, those which provide a taste you can’t get anywhere else but here. Tasting a favorite dish from the Rockslide Brewpub, Pablo’s Pizza or Fly’n Roosters is often the first thought that comes to mind when stu-dents head back to school.

Opening a business is not easy, and keeping it from collapsing is even more difficult. The own-

ers of these three locally-owned businesses have been open for at least ten years, but as more com-petition springs up and business slows down, one wonders what steps are needed to make a small business last.

The owner of the Rockslide, Dream Café, and Dos Hombres in the Redlands, Scott Howard and his wife Mo, have their own special recipe for making a successful small business. The ingre-dients consist of, “loyal customers, quality of the food, giving back to the community and reason-able prices,” Mo said.

While big businesses can make items on the menu cheaper, “smaller ones can make changes quicker,” Howard said. To him this is one of the

“If there’s something the customer wants we

can add it to the product list pret ty quickly.”

-Paul Knaysi, Pablo’s Pizza Owner

C U L T U R E | 2 7

advantages of being a locally owned restaurant. “Adding a personal touch to the food service

is important,” he said, “and knowing the names of our customers and what they want.”

The Redlands’ Dos Hombres opened over 30 years ago and has had loyal customers returning ever since. Their fresh food is prepared daily and guests often come back several times a week.

Another small restaurant surrounded by other stores on Main Street is Pablo’s Pizza. Most locals have a special place in their heart for this delicious work of art. Pablo’s Pizza has been open for 12 years.

“The purpose of Pablo’s is to serve delicious, nutritious food to the community,” said owner Paul Knaysi.

Along with being locally owned, Pablo‘s Pizza is very unique.

“We have a real expansive menu with lots of combinations, and creative options. We also use great quality ingredients. You can tell the differ-ence from pizza to pizza in cooperate-owned businesses,” Knaysi said. “Big businesses can’t change quickly to economic pressure and con-sumer demands, so we can be a lot more nimble. If there’s something the consumer wants we can add it to our product list pretty quickly.”

Another way that locally owned businesses create their own niché is by becoming active in the community.

“We really support the community through foundations and donations. Keep money local, means profits stay here in Grand Junction,” Knaysi said.

Knaysi is looking to the horizon for new op-portunities. He feels positive about the growth in the valley, and explains that it has helped busi-ness increase. Pablo’s Pizza is not only in Grand Junction, but Knaysi is reopening the store in Fruita, and expanding to the Front Range in Fort Collins. The seeds have been planted and the art of Pablo’s Pizza is traveling fast. Knaysi hopes in the near future that Pablo’s will sprout up to share a whole new experience in Denver.

This year will mark a decade since Fly’n Roost-ers first opened. Known around the valley for their signature wings, Roosters also serves a variety of astounding sandwiches and fries. Roosters stands out with it’s 21 different creative sauces.

“What makes this place family-based is, being here every day,” Ann Danner, manger for Roosters, said.

She explains that since her and her husband, the owner, work there everyday it allows the res-taurant to not only serve as a place for an enjoy-able dinner, but a warm, family-friendly, welcom-ing restaurant.

Like Knaysi, Danner also believes that the val-

ley is growing at a healthy level. In the near future Roosters will have another stepping stone to face with a Buffalo Wild Wings opening soon. How-ever, Danner has a positive outlook on the new competition arriving.

“Knowing the competition is healthy and there is an advantage of having loyal customers,” Danner said.

For this reason locally owned restaurants have the ability to meet one-on-one with each individual costumer, and build those long-term relationships first-hand. Being a smaller, locally-owned restaurants isn’t only about the ingredi-ents necessary to stay successful, but also about finding ways to create a niché for themselves. It allows a dream to become a reality. Starting with a homemade flour tortilla chip, a hand toss of dough in the air, or an original spice can start to create a recipe to share a connection with cos-tumers that soon become family. While bigger national chains shed light on the valley, these three locally-owned businesses have made an impact in the hearts of many locals with their in-dividuality and creativity.


D espite the familiarity and ease of a summer spent with nothing more to do but work and play, Cody Milam, a 21 year-old CMU English

major, decided last July that he would not spend the next summer working at Dominoes, living in Grand Junction, or the United States for that matter.

Milam was hoping for something more inspir-ing than the “easy-livin’” so many summers had come to personify.

“We were at a party, and I told a friend, ‘next summer I don’t even want to be in this country,’” Milam said.

Through his increased involvement with the Outdoor Program, Milam caught wind of and im-mediately jumped on board for the OP’s interna-tional trip to take place this summer.

This epic journey-to-be is actually part of an upcoming course, Expedition Planning: Trans-Eur-asia, taught by director of the Outdoor Program and globe-trotter, Chad Thatcher.

The logistics are this: students will spend roughly two months traveling from London to Beijing in what Thatcher describes as “one of the world’s most epic journeys”.

After indulging in the sights and sensations of Western Europe’s premier cities, travelers will nav-igate their way across Eastern Europe and Asia, from Moscow to Beijing via the Trans-Siberian and Trans-Mongolian Railways. (See page 30)

This will entail beginning in Western Russia, which is still considered part of Europe; crossing the Ural Mountains into Asia; traversing the ma-jority of the vast Russian landscape; crossing into Mongolia; emerging in China and forging on to its capital city of Beijing, located in Northern China near the East China Sea.

The travelers plan on making specific sched-uled stops along the excursion, though Thatcher admits that travel plans are always subject to change, primarily because students, like Milam and others, will be as much a part of the itinerary-

small town big plans bursting the american bubble

story by charlie blackmer photos by parker eyrich and

michael wong

C U L T U R E | 2 9

making process as Thatcher, an already sea-soned traveler.

“We form the expedition as a group,” Thatcher said. “By the time students are done (with the trip), they are travelers: they know how to catch buses, make plans, find things to do.”

The idea of honing such skills was just one on the list of selling points for Milam, who is also working towards a minor in International Studies.

“I am planning on studying abroad next year, most likely in Iceland, so I think this trip will be a good ‘baby-step’. I might as well spend at least a few months in another culture before I decide that I want to dedicate six months of my life to living in a different country,” Milam said.

Most importantly, Milam is ecstatic about the prospect of a new experience, though he is trying not to anticipate exactly how it will manifest, so as not to rely too heavily on his own expectations of the trip.

“I know we will be traveling on the Trans-Sibe-rian Railway, other than that, I don’t know what to expect. I want to keep an open mind,” Milam said.

“I expect to be shocked at how other people live.”According to Thatcher, who, upon comple-

tion of this trip will have set foot in 99 countries, the importance of such excursions lies in their ability to “teach students to step outside their comfort zones”.

“We have a lot of choices in America,” Thatch-er said. “We have such an influence on the world, yet we see so little of it.”

New cultures, new languages, new people; the unknown and the unanticipated; the knowl-edge gained in “breaking the American bubble.” Thatcher, as well as Milam, has plenty to look for-ward to, a feeling that in his 19 international trips with the Outdoor Program, has yet to fade.

“Students have been talking about this trip, the Trans-Siberian, for a long time. This is the year we’re going to do it,” Thatcher said.

“We have a lot of choices in America... we have such an influence on the world, yet

we see so lit tle of it.”-Chad Thatcher

chad thatcher


the trans-siberian railwaya continuation of small town big plans

story by charlie blackmerphotos by michael wong and parker eyrich

The Trans-Siberian RailwaySpanning seven time zones across the expansive Eurasian super-continent, the Trans-Siberian Rail-way was once revered as “the fairest jewel in the crown of the Tsars.”

The mighty railway is actually a series of smaller, regional routes that were intermittently con-structed and linked together during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. The smaller railways can be traveled individually, or taken together, allowing one to embark on a direct route across Russia and surrounding countries.

Western Siberian: 1892-18961,440 kilometers (895 miles) in length from Che-lyabinsk to present-day Novosibirsk, crossing the Ob River and many of its tributaries.

Central Siberian: 1893-18981,920 kilometers (1,193 miles) from the Ob Riv-er to Irkutsk, west on Lake Baikal - the world’s deepest lake.

Ussuri: 1891-1897800 kilometers (497 miles) from the far-eastern city of Vladivostok north to Khabarovsk. Ac-cording to the authors of the Lonely Planet Guide, Trans-Siberian Railway, the construction of this segment of the railway employed rough-ly 600 prisoners “destined for incarceration on Sakhalin Island.”

Trans-Baikal: 1895-19001,072 kilometers (665 miles) from the eastern

shore of Lake Baikal to the city of Sretensk, run-ning through heavy forests and conquering the Yablonovy Mountains with a height of roughly 18,500 feet above sea level.

Circumbaikal: 1901-1904Currently covers 89 kilometers (55 miles), around the steep, cliffy shores of Lake Baikal. Initially, the route crossed the lake, instead of skirting it. Be-cause of the unmanageable projected cost of con-structing a line around the lake, engineers com-missioned the steamship Baikal to push through the ice and transport train carriages across the lake. However, as detailed in Trans-Siberian Rail-way, in 1904 upon entering into the Russo-Japa-nese was, Russia required the use of any available steamships, like the Baikal, to transport troops and supplies. Without the use of this ice-breaking behemoth, tracks were laid across the lake. Dur-ing the train’s first attempt to cross the frozen lake on its own, however, the ice cracked and the train sank tragically into the waters of Lake Baikal, thus prompting the construction of tracks around the perimeter of the lake.

Amur: 1907-19162,080 kilometers (1,292 miles), crossing the Amur River, this was the last section of the Russian por-tion of the Railway to be completed.

The Trans-Mongolian2,080 kilometers (1,292 miles). Travelers with the OP will catch this branch of the Railway in Ulan-Ude, in order to cross Mongolia and arrive in Bei-jing to the southeast.

source: t rans-siberian railway by lonely planet guide

C U L T U R E | 3 1

local traveling in the u.s.L ike the Trans-Eurasia trip Colorado Mesa University students will be taking this summer, the rail-bound

journey from Grand Junction to Denver is an inspiring adventure in and of itself, a break from the or-dinary for the willing passenger. Before interstates and airplanes, newly-laid train tracks united conti-

nents and opened up vast landscapes to the masses. Whether one is chugging along through the splendor that is Glenwood Canyon or reveling in the slowly-passing Russian landscape, trains serve as a unique and somewhat forgotten means of travel.

The Amtrak line that departs daily from Grand Junction carries passengers to destinations as close as Denver, or as far as the East Coast, and does so in a manner quite differently than what we have come to expect from transportation. Train travel is much slower than what cars and airplanes have accustomed us to- a fact that hinders many would-be train passengers, while delighting those that do decide to step on board. The routes themselves that trains follow, in Colorado or in Russia, are often well out of sight of any interstate. They afford passengers a unique way in which to experience the landscape through which they are traveling - one that is unspoiled by distraction or responsibility.


naturally inspiredT he power of inspiration by nature is in all of us. It has an immeasurable capac-

ity to create a naturally beautiful motivation, unattainable by anything else. We strive to find our natural inspiration to compel us in the most raw and purest

form in order to surpass even our own expectations and to succeed in achieving our wildest dreams. Find your nature and get lost in the inspiration.

photos by michael wong

C U L T U R E | 3 3

photos by michael wong

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