This was the first story of the semester that I wrote and I was able to get better acquainted with what I am told is 75% of trying to write a story- not getting called back.
I hunted down and attempted to contact all three of the current owners of The Underground Cafe several times to no avail. At one point I even tracked down Laurie's facebook trying to get a response.
I was told by three different former employees that I would probably not receive a call back.
They were right. Sigh.
The Underground Cafe closes, reasons unknown
Friday, July 2, 2010 | 6:12 p.m. CDT; updated 10:28 p.m. CDT, Saturday, July 3, 2010
BY GIANNA VOLPE
COLUMBIA — The Underground Cafe in downtown Columbia closed Wednesday night.
Jason Schrick, one employee, received the news of a need to close one week ago in a text message sent by the son of the cafe's owner, Laurie McAllister.
The remainder of the cafe’s lease for 111 S. Ninth St. might be to rent out the space for private events, Schrick said.
The reason why the Underground went under is unclear. It appears that financial issues might have been a contributing factor. Two benefits were arranged for June 26 and 29 to raise money for the cafe, which closed its doors the day after the second benefit.
Schrick, who was a sound technician at the Underground for about seven months, organized the benefits, which had more than 15 acts.
"(The artists) were excited to try to help out because the Underground had always treated them like gold whenever they had performed there," Schrick said.
McAllister and her two children, who have been helping run the business since September, did not returned calls about the nature of the close, the amount of money made by these benefits or how that money is going to be used.
Word about the closing of the business appears not yet to have leaked to the majority of the community. Thursday, four separate would-be patrons approached the door to the cafe within 15 minutes of one another, before asking if the place was closed.
Previously called The Cherry Street Artisan, the coffee shop was frequented by people looking for a place to study and hold small meetings.
Performance opportunities in the evenings encouraged start-up musicians and poets to get a feel for the stage on open mic nights, though some disliked becoming background noise to a distracted coffee-shop audience. Many patrons frequented the Artisan for the environment, coffee and food, rather than the acts themselves.
The business went through a metamorphosis in September when McAllister's son, Ryan, and daughter, Katelyn, began helping her run the business.
The result was The Underground Cafe, which included the expansion of both the cafe’s food menu and the business's operation as a musical venue.
According to Schrick, he was hired during the inception of The Underground, when a night staff was being sought. Hoping to change its previous image as a coffee shop and study area, The Underground Cafe sought to bolster its reputation as a venue to attract a night crowd.
The cafe increased the frequency of musical events and began charging cover at the door. This attracted bigger acts and music lovers, but it discouraged some other patrons.
The Underground also began carrying Intelligentsia, a pricier brand of espresso. However, former employee Katy Bauschke, said this decision was short-lived — the cafe stopped carrying Intelligentsia after two or three months.
Much of the cafe’s setup remained the same, including, but not limited to, the sizable metal tiger statue standing next to the cash register and counter space.
All that remained outside of the previous downtown landmark on Thursday was a few empty beer cans strewn about the gated patio and a plethora of cigarette butts leading down the concrete steps to a locked cafe entrance.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Articles that I wrote for the Missourian before this summer
I am going to copy and paste the articles from the Missourian web-site, but create a hyper link between the titles of the articles and the article on the Columbia Missourian website. I heavily encourage you to visit the link for additional media (like photos!) Maybe I will update the blog with some of the photos that I took for the Missourian when I was a staff photo-journalist. That would be lovely, I think.
15-year-old assaulted by masked suspect
Saturday, December 27, 2008 | 6:00 p.m. CST
BY GIANNA VOLPE
COLUMBIA — Police responded Friday night to an assault reported in the 3100 block of Alpine Drive.
According to a Columbia Police Department news release, the victim, a 15-year-old male, said an unknown male wearing dark clothing and a dark ski mask entered his apartment before assaulting him.
The teen couldn't provide further information about the suspect’s description. He told police he was able to chase the suspect out of his residence, according to the news release.
Police think the suspect was able to enter the residence through an unlocked front door. Police found no signs of forced entry, and are asking those who might have any additional information concerning the incident to submit tips to the CrimeStoppers Web site, 875tips.com.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Flooding forces Humane Society to relocate eight dogs
Sunday, December 28, 2008 | 5:31 p.m. CST; updated 5:41 p.m. CST, Sunday, December 28, 2008
BY GIANNA VOLPE
COLUMBIA — Flooding forced the Central Missouri Humane Society to relocate eight dogs out of the stray dog wing Saturday.
Rainwater, aggravated by malfunctioning drains, began to flood the area at around 10 a.m. The wing consists of cages with small doors that lead to adjoining outdoor structures. Moving the dogs became necessary after flooding of the uncovered outdoor areas spread to the inside of the building.
Heather Duren Stubbs, the shelter’s relations coordinator, said staff began working at 10:30 a.m. to keep drains functioning and move water outside. The affected pups were later relocated to crates inside of the "puppy and kitty room," she said.
Duren Stubbs said the amount of water that flooded the building seemed unusual.
“Occasionally we’ll get a little bit, but in the three years I’ve worked here I’ve never seen it like this,” she said. Despite the increased amount of water in the building, Duren Stubbs said the situation had not escalated to the point of needing outside assistance.
However, the Columbia Fire Department visited the shelter in response to a call about the flooding — a visit that came as a surprise to the shelter. The call is believed to have been made by a concerned adopter who noticed the flooding during a visit to the shelter Saturday.
The outside kennels were under about a foot of water when firefighters arrived, according to a department news release. Firefighters set up a pump to drain the water into a ravine behind the shelter where it would run off into a nearby creek..
Duren Stubbs said she wasn't sure when the displaced dogs would be returned to their wing.
15-year-old assaulted by masked suspect
Saturday, December 27, 2008 | 6:00 p.m. CST
BY GIANNA VOLPE
COLUMBIA — Police responded Friday night to an assault reported in the 3100 block of Alpine Drive.
According to a Columbia Police Department news release, the victim, a 15-year-old male, said an unknown male wearing dark clothing and a dark ski mask entered his apartment before assaulting him.
The teen couldn't provide further information about the suspect’s description. He told police he was able to chase the suspect out of his residence, according to the news release.
Police think the suspect was able to enter the residence through an unlocked front door. Police found no signs of forced entry, and are asking those who might have any additional information concerning the incident to submit tips to the CrimeStoppers Web site, 875tips.com.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Flooding forces Humane Society to relocate eight dogs
Sunday, December 28, 2008 | 5:31 p.m. CST; updated 5:41 p.m. CST, Sunday, December 28, 2008
BY GIANNA VOLPE
COLUMBIA — Flooding forced the Central Missouri Humane Society to relocate eight dogs out of the stray dog wing Saturday.
Rainwater, aggravated by malfunctioning drains, began to flood the area at around 10 a.m. The wing consists of cages with small doors that lead to adjoining outdoor structures. Moving the dogs became necessary after flooding of the uncovered outdoor areas spread to the inside of the building.
Heather Duren Stubbs, the shelter’s relations coordinator, said staff began working at 10:30 a.m. to keep drains functioning and move water outside. The affected pups were later relocated to crates inside of the "puppy and kitty room," she said.
Duren Stubbs said the amount of water that flooded the building seemed unusual.
“Occasionally we’ll get a little bit, but in the three years I’ve worked here I’ve never seen it like this,” she said. Despite the increased amount of water in the building, Duren Stubbs said the situation had not escalated to the point of needing outside assistance.
However, the Columbia Fire Department visited the shelter in response to a call about the flooding — a visit that came as a surprise to the shelter. The call is believed to have been made by a concerned adopter who noticed the flooding during a visit to the shelter Saturday.
The outside kennels were under about a foot of water when firefighters arrived, according to a department news release. Firefighters set up a pump to drain the water into a ravine behind the shelter where it would run off into a nearby creek..
Duren Stubbs said she wasn't sure when the displaced dogs would be returned to their wing.
E-portfoliating
Hi, hello, how's it going? What's the word? What's the scoop? Who's on first? How did we get here? Why did you cut the line? When are the fireworks? Where have all the cowboys gone?
I know it's been a while since I've written in you, web log.
You know how scattered my energies are (I mean, don't you?)
You see, I haven't been writing on the internet lately, aside from on the Columbia Missourian website and in their printed publication as a newspaper reporter (which is connected to why I haven't been writing on the web), the occasional facebook post here and there, and even less occasionally on any number of the other blogs I have scattered across the cyber-universe.
I have been mostly pen and paper these days because I got into a vicious car accident in New Mexico in November of 2009 (It's actually the 8 month anniversary of the accident today).
Enter tangent
You see, I had driven down there with fellow Missouri University's School of Journalism student, Sean madden, in order to gather video interviews and the like at the International Drug Policy Reform Conference.
I have no memory of the accident and little of the conference (aside from the footage and journal entries that I have), but I do know the following things according to eye-witnesses:
I was driving and wearing a seatbelt, which saved my life because the driver's side of my car was demolished.
Apparently (I say this because I don't remember it) I received my very first speeding ticket on the drive home from the conference and the accident occurred in front of an upcoming speed trap.
I was traveling in the left lane with a smaller white SUV in my blind spot. When I slowed to move over to the right lane, I saw the car, jerking the wheel back into my lane.
The officer up ahead at the speed trap said that I fish-tailed for a while and he was hoping that I would pull out of it, however this was not to be- my car went to spin out and the white car (that instead of falling back, seeing me fishtail, attempted to speed ahead of me) t-boned mine. My car flipped over theirs and then six more times into the desert of Moriarty, New Mexico.
My guess is that the people in the other car were probably as distracted that I imagine I was at the upcoming speed trap.
I say this because I had never gotten a speeding ticket before the one I am told that I had received on that trip and knowing myself, this upset me incredibly and I was probably of the opinion that there "was no way I would get another one."
I also say this because apparently the people in the other car had a whole mess of clothes, but no suitcases?
They also tried to claim that Madden's ipod was theirs before my sister confirmed the fact that the phone was, in fact, his.
Whatever the case, a combat army medic named Rafael Garcia was happening through the area with friend, Danny Lopez, just after my accident and decided to turn back in order to see if assistance was needed.
Luckily, he did so because he assisted in locating me (apparently they didn't know that I was even in the vehicle at first).
My car was upside down, my passenger was wandering around obviously in shock, and the driver's side was so crunched that Garcia said the only reason that he could recognize that there was a person inside was from my brown cowboy boots sticking up in the wreckage.
Garcia aided in stabilizing my cervical neck (is that what they're called?) as they removed me from the car in order to keep me from becoming paralyzed.
This is incredible because I did sustain a fracture to the C2 of my neck.
I also broke all but one of the ribs on my left side, my scapula, lacerated my spleen and liver, and punctured my lungs, which collapsed.
Garcia performed CPR on me as I wasn't breathing and I began shallow breathing on my own, but the officer present provided me with critically needed oxygen.
I was helicoptered to the University of New Mexico hospital and would, days later, receive a tracheotomy for my repeatedly collapsing lungs.
Exit tangent
So, why is this important?
Aside from the fact that I almost died, my accident is the reason that brings me to "blog" (I will forever hate that word) to you today.
When I got into the wreck, I was getting ready to report for the Missourian over Thanksgiving Break and afterward, I needed to spend the next semester healing my ass up, which I think that I've been doing a great job of.
My bones healed like the Wolverine and I no longer have a hole in my throat (though I do have a gross scar) and I am on schedule to graduate this December from Mizzou with my photo-journalism bachelor's granted I pass all of my classes this upcoming semester and finish the four incompletes I have from this past falls' classes by November.
This brings me to what I am doing right now- Completing my newspaper reporting incomplete.
As part of the class, I will need to have an e-portfolio of the work/blogging that I do of/about my experience at the Columbia Missourian and THAT BRINGS ME VERY FINALLY -taking some big breaths- (those are important according to my editor, Liz Brixey......she is right) to my business here tonight. I am going to start officially on building that e-portfolio RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW.
I know it's been a while since I've written in you, web log.
You know how scattered my energies are (I mean, don't you?)
You see, I haven't been writing on the internet lately, aside from on the Columbia Missourian website and in their printed publication as a newspaper reporter (which is connected to why I haven't been writing on the web), the occasional facebook post here and there, and even less occasionally on any number of the other blogs I have scattered across the cyber-universe.
I have been mostly pen and paper these days because I got into a vicious car accident in New Mexico in November of 2009 (It's actually the 8 month anniversary of the accident today).
Enter tangent
You see, I had driven down there with fellow Missouri University's School of Journalism student, Sean madden, in order to gather video interviews and the like at the International Drug Policy Reform Conference.
I have no memory of the accident and little of the conference (aside from the footage and journal entries that I have), but I do know the following things according to eye-witnesses:
I was driving and wearing a seatbelt, which saved my life because the driver's side of my car was demolished.
Apparently (I say this because I don't remember it) I received my very first speeding ticket on the drive home from the conference and the accident occurred in front of an upcoming speed trap.
I was traveling in the left lane with a smaller white SUV in my blind spot. When I slowed to move over to the right lane, I saw the car, jerking the wheel back into my lane.
The officer up ahead at the speed trap said that I fish-tailed for a while and he was hoping that I would pull out of it, however this was not to be- my car went to spin out and the white car (that instead of falling back, seeing me fishtail, attempted to speed ahead of me) t-boned mine. My car flipped over theirs and then six more times into the desert of Moriarty, New Mexico.
My guess is that the people in the other car were probably as distracted that I imagine I was at the upcoming speed trap.
I say this because I had never gotten a speeding ticket before the one I am told that I had received on that trip and knowing myself, this upset me incredibly and I was probably of the opinion that there "was no way I would get another one."
I also say this because apparently the people in the other car had a whole mess of clothes, but no suitcases?
They also tried to claim that Madden's ipod was theirs before my sister confirmed the fact that the phone was, in fact, his.
Whatever the case, a combat army medic named Rafael Garcia was happening through the area with friend, Danny Lopez, just after my accident and decided to turn back in order to see if assistance was needed.
Luckily, he did so because he assisted in locating me (apparently they didn't know that I was even in the vehicle at first).
My car was upside down, my passenger was wandering around obviously in shock, and the driver's side was so crunched that Garcia said the only reason that he could recognize that there was a person inside was from my brown cowboy boots sticking up in the wreckage.
Garcia aided in stabilizing my cervical neck (is that what they're called?) as they removed me from the car in order to keep me from becoming paralyzed.
This is incredible because I did sustain a fracture to the C2 of my neck.
I also broke all but one of the ribs on my left side, my scapula, lacerated my spleen and liver, and punctured my lungs, which collapsed.
Garcia performed CPR on me as I wasn't breathing and I began shallow breathing on my own, but the officer present provided me with critically needed oxygen.
I was helicoptered to the University of New Mexico hospital and would, days later, receive a tracheotomy for my repeatedly collapsing lungs.
Exit tangent
So, why is this important?
Aside from the fact that I almost died, my accident is the reason that brings me to "blog" (I will forever hate that word) to you today.
When I got into the wreck, I was getting ready to report for the Missourian over Thanksgiving Break and afterward, I needed to spend the next semester healing my ass up, which I think that I've been doing a great job of.
My bones healed like the Wolverine and I no longer have a hole in my throat (though I do have a gross scar) and I am on schedule to graduate this December from Mizzou with my photo-journalism bachelor's granted I pass all of my classes this upcoming semester and finish the four incompletes I have from this past falls' classes by November.
This brings me to what I am doing right now- Completing my newspaper reporting incomplete.
As part of the class, I will need to have an e-portfolio of the work/blogging that I do of/about my experience at the Columbia Missourian and THAT BRINGS ME VERY FINALLY -taking some big breaths- (those are important according to my editor, Liz Brixey......she is right) to my business here tonight. I am going to start officially on building that e-portfolio RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Spring Break Remix, In Anticipation Of Summer
My spring break aka Missouri --> New Jersey---> Missouri
Remixed for more optimal enjoyment.
Remixed for more optimal enjoyment.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Don we never our straight apparel
I used to be a writer,
--
Frontlash:
I, for one, for many, am glad that Vermont overturned its ban on gay marriage.
I, for one, for many, am glad that my school has passed the measure to include transgender.
--
I went back home to New Jersey for the first time in a year.
When my older sister saw me, she cried.
A year is too long.
Grandma tossed birthday cake at her guests and she said that she was done, she's passing on the torch.
Aunt Karen had left and so had Keith.
I held Aunt Linda while she cried and knew that
a year is too long to go.
These people, they need me.
--
Neon is in, peasant shirts are out.
--
Trip-wired brain, get out get inside
find cover
ups from the shadow
puppets not for children
disappearing veal in the sewer system
--
My seatbelt
Grim ribbons on the breast,
handholding the wheel, I switch dials
and lanes through the ghost towns of Pennsylvania,
inverting their roofs in rebellion,
for sale signs sprinkle the yellow cake fields
and the cops watch us disappear from construction stretches and tunnel entrances.
--
I suppose the older I get, the less serious I become about the world.
Medicating myself to "normalcy,"
straying from my true frequency,
moaning subsequently,
blubbering sequentially,
falling into the only comfort of my arms where I see nothing will change because nobody else believes that it can.
We are the skeletons reaching for the prison cell door, slightly ajar,
and you refuse to move just because of your bones?
How quickly we forget the sixties.
--
Everyone wants to own me
or see me dead
--
Hail to the Mountain whore
a hole with irregular menstruation
magma seeping from the skin
--
Red Heathers- Hold me close
Hellowl, hold me back, if you said
to, I'd follow, give you my organs,
fried skin served as rare flambe, it's
no wonder I'm a mess, close to the skin
you hold me back from
--
Headless dog
--
As the ringleader of the backyard circus,
I trained you to jump through the pink hula hoop
and in the final act, I was a canary bird
that jumped knees to the dirt
and Mom watched with the cordless on the wooden steps
My mother, the human cordless phone,
join the brown and red candy cane circus
and don't let your man kill the ivy on the side of the garage.
He'll take the elves down with it and magic will never return to this place.
--
I am an angel, but spare me the connotations
and ask me a question.
I can help you and I will.
Tell me what you know and I'll tell you how it is.
Tell me how it is and I'll tell you how it will be.
But don't tell me a thing and you will stay where you are.
--
That's no bird, I should know.
--
I thought I saw you in a dream
the military was taking down the zombies
and I tucked a 9 milimeter in my ass crack
that took one down
splashing
--
Frontlash:
I, for one, for many, am glad that Vermont overturned its ban on gay marriage.
I, for one, for many, am glad that my school has passed the measure to include transgender.
--
I went back home to New Jersey for the first time in a year.
When my older sister saw me, she cried.
A year is too long.
Grandma tossed birthday cake at her guests and she said that she was done, she's passing on the torch.
Aunt Karen had left and so had Keith.
I held Aunt Linda while she cried and knew that
a year is too long to go.
These people, they need me.
--
Neon is in, peasant shirts are out.
--
Trip-wired brain, get out get inside
find cover
ups from the shadow
puppets not for children
disappearing veal in the sewer system
--
My seatbelt
Grim ribbons on the breast,
handholding the wheel, I switch dials
and lanes through the ghost towns of Pennsylvania,
inverting their roofs in rebellion,
for sale signs sprinkle the yellow cake fields
and the cops watch us disappear from construction stretches and tunnel entrances.
--
I suppose the older I get, the less serious I become about the world.
Medicating myself to "normalcy,"
straying from my true frequency,
moaning subsequently,
blubbering sequentially,
falling into the only comfort of my arms where I see nothing will change because nobody else believes that it can.
We are the skeletons reaching for the prison cell door, slightly ajar,
and you refuse to move just because of your bones?
How quickly we forget the sixties.
--
Everyone wants to own me
or see me dead
--
Hail to the Mountain whore
a hole with irregular menstruation
magma seeping from the skin
--
Red Heathers- Hold me close
Hellowl, hold me back, if you said
to, I'd follow, give you my organs,
fried skin served as rare flambe, it's
no wonder I'm a mess, close to the skin
you hold me back from
--
Headless dog
--
As the ringleader of the backyard circus,
I trained you to jump through the pink hula hoop
and in the final act, I was a canary bird
that jumped knees to the dirt
and Mom watched with the cordless on the wooden steps
My mother, the human cordless phone,
join the brown and red candy cane circus
and don't let your man kill the ivy on the side of the garage.
He'll take the elves down with it and magic will never return to this place.
--
I am an angel, but spare me the connotations
and ask me a question.
I can help you and I will.
Tell me what you know and I'll tell you how it is.
Tell me how it is and I'll tell you how it will be.
But don't tell me a thing and you will stay where you are.
--
That's no bird, I should know.
--
I thought I saw you in a dream
the military was taking down the zombies
and I tucked a 9 milimeter in my ass crack
that took one down
splashing
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Can you say staff infection?
So, I have been on the staff at the Missourian for about a month now.
I have decided to start this blog back on up again to start collecting the stuff I've had published at the Missourian.
Because innit that cute. -playful sarcasm-
First story was the MU men's basketball game against Texas Tech on 1/24/09.
Here are the pictures that were published in the Missourian paper and on the website.
(Sunday cover)
(Sunday sports section cover: Demarre Carroll)
(Demarre dunking: I think they put this one on the web)
Coach addresses the team (used for website)
I have decided to start this blog back on up again to start collecting the stuff I've had published at the Missourian.
Because innit that cute. -playful sarcasm-
First story was the MU men's basketball game against Texas Tech on 1/24/09.
Here are the pictures that were published in the Missourian paper and on the website.
(Sunday cover)
(Sunday sports section cover: Demarre Carroll)
(Demarre dunking: I think they put this one on the web)
Coach addresses the team (used for website)
Dog parks save.
My latest addiction has been going to the dog park off of Forum
(that wraps around the water park)
I go not only because I know Bukowski (my almost two year old Husky/Golden retriever) loves it, but because I do.
I guess people would probably tell me to file this under "good habits" rather than addictions, but damn, I'm pretty sure the place is becoming the key element to my smiles.
(that wraps around the water park)
I go not only because I know Bukowski (my almost two year old Husky/Golden retriever) loves it, but because I do.
I guess people would probably tell me to file this under "good habits" rather than addictions, but damn, I'm pretty sure the place is becoming the key element to my smiles.
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