All Too Human by Arthur Trickett-Wile

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According to a federal report released by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Kentucky saw a nearly 10 percent increase in the number of individuals experiencing homelessness from 2023 to 2024. According to the 2024 Kentucky Housing Corporation “K-Count,” in Bowling Green, the seat of Warren County, just over 150 people live year-round without any form of long-term housing or a straightforward path to obtain it.

The individual experience of each person varies, but they all share a common struggle of survival in the streets.

View Arthur Trickett-Wile’s spring 2024 senior project documenting the homeless community in Bowling Green, Ky and those that work to help them. https://www.arthur-trickett-wile.com/homelessness-in-bowling-green

Lester Martin sleeps through the dawn on a bench along a Park Greenway Trail behind Kereiakes Park and Fairview Cemetery in Bowling, Ky. Lester says he likes the spot because it is secluded and affords him the occasional glimpse of nature. “It’s really peaceful—no one bothers you,” he said. “A lot of time you’ll see deer. I had a little possum who would sleep down under my bench.”
 


 
Margie “McGraw” Mesker, who is homeless, trades head-scratches for kisses from Panhead McGraw, her three-year-old pit-shepherd mix, outside the Lifeskills Wellness Connection in Bowling Green. Mesker is known simply as “McGraw” within the local homeless community due to her long-standing delusion that she is married to country music star Tim McGraw. “Panhead’s sister belongs to Faith Hill,” Mesker said. “But that’s God’s plan.”
 

 
Bowling Green Room in the Inn director Dewayne Conner, left, prays with Lloyd Scott during an intake session at the Salvation Army Fellowship Hall on Main Avenue. Room in the Inn partners with a dozen or more local churches to provide temporary overnight warming shelters for the homeless throughout the cold season. Lloyd and Dewayne asked for God’s help in Lloyd’s battles with temptation. “I’ve been struggling, man,” he said. “I been moving toward the dark side.” He was later banned for the season after showing up at an intake intoxicated, leaving him to find a place to stay each night for himself. “Lord, I ask that you take this burden off of Lloyd,” Dewayne said.
 

 
Bowling Green Room in the Inn director Dewayne Conner, left, prays with Lloyd Scott during an intake session at the Salvation Army Fellowship Hall on Main Avenue. Room in the Inn partners with a dozen or more local churches to provide temporary overnight warming shelters for the homeless throughout the cold season. Lloyd and Dewayne asked for God’s help in Lloyd’s battles with temptation. “I’ve been struggling, man,” he said. “I been moving toward the dark side.” He was later banned for the season after showing up at an intake intoxicated, leaving him to find a place to stay each night for himself. “Lord, I ask that you take this burden off of Lloyd,” Dewayne said.
 

 
Bowling Green Room in the Inn director Dewayne Conner, left, prays with Lloyd Scott during an intake session at the Salvation Army Fellowship Hall on Main Avenue. Room in the Inn partners with a dozen or more local churches to provide temporary overnight warming shelters for the homeless throughout the cold season. Lloyd and Dewayne asked for God’s help in Lloyd’s battles with temptation. “I’ve been struggling, man,” he said. “I been moving toward the dark side.” He was later banned for the season after showing up at an intake intoxicated, leaving him to find a place to stay each night for himself. “Lord, I ask that you take this burden off of Lloyd,” Dewayne said.
 

Posted in: Class Work, Photojournalism Projects Class, Picture Stories, Through Our Eyes

Life in the Garden, By Sean McInnis

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Faced with eviction, residents of Kentucky Gardens Mobile Home Park, come together to find a solution to help relocate after rezoning allowed for development of condominiums on the property. Many of the residents’ trailer homes are legally unable to be moved from the site because of statute requirements, leaving them to be demolished. The high cost of housing and development in the region has made it hard for many of the low-income residents to find a new place to call home.

Senior Photojournalism major Sean McInnis documented the community last spring 2024 after learning about their eviction and the challenges the locals were facing.

To see the entire project visit: https://wkuvjp431.tilda.ws/lifeinthegarden


The Kentucky Gardens Trailer Park is home to a diverse community. Residents enjoy the quiet and peaceful sanctuary they have created.

 


Larry Wimpee takes his dog Spike on a short walk around his trailer. A retired brick lawyer, Wimpee says he has been living in the park for 13 years and has enjoyed sitting under the awning covering his front porch. Wimpee is frustrated and unsure how he is going to relocate due to his old age. “I’m working on moving now, trying to find a place, trying to find the money to do it,” Wimpee said. “I don’t even have a car.”

 


Brandon Vincent looks across the trailer park while taking a break from working on his bikes. “If we don’t start to help ourselves, we might end up in a position to have no help at all,” said Vincent.

 


The people of the park deliberate into the evening during a meeting to discuss the status of their current situation. Resident Star Morse (fourth from left) led attendees in brainstorming ideas for different fundraisers, and shared recent communications she had with the park owners, Eddie and Joy Hanks. With the park’s large Hispanic population, Leyda Becker, the Bowling Green International Community Liaison translated for the Spanish speaking residents.

 


Karma Silz looks through papers she received from the park owners informing residents of the current timeline in construction now giving them until 2026 to move out. Despite time extensions by the owners and months of fundraising, roughly half of the park had decided to vacate, leaving their trailers to be demolished.

 


A construction crew works to tear down resident Larry Wimpee’s trailer. The workers tore down the metal siding with crowbars and electric saws.

 

Posted in: Class Work, Picture Stories, Student Work, Through Our Eyes

Birds Doing Stuff, a photo exhibit by Steve Jessmore

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The School of Media & Communication is delighted to host Steve Jessmore and an exhibit of his award-winning work, “Birds Doing Stuff” in the Jody Richards Hall Gallery on the campus of Western Kentucky University March 4 – April 18.

This project aims at showcasing the beauty and fragility of a tiny slice of Torch River, located in northwest Michigan, which also happens to be the photographer’s front yard. What’s at stake for this river, as for many other rivers that are lake tributaries, is the symbiotic relationship between an ecosystem and its human stewards.

March 4

  • Opening Reception  |  6:00 PM  | Jody Richards Hall Atrium
  • Public Presentation  |  7:00 PM  |  Jody Richards Hall Auditorium

JRH Gallery Through April 18

  • M-W: 9:00 am – 7:00 pm
  • TH-F: 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
  • Gallery is closed when WKU is closed

In 2020, COVID left a void. Steve Jessmore’s work, as many of us, was put on hold. People weren’t able to do things – Jessmore included. His wife Brenda challenged him. “You need to use your talents. Do what you always wanted to do. Who knows how long this will last. Every day is a gift from God and you have to make the best of each and every one like it was your last,” she said.

Reeds Lake, East Grand Rapids, Mich. Aug 9, 2022

It took him a few months, but he finally found his inspiration and direction. He bought a kayak and, in his travels, discovered ducks and other birds. After spending hundreds of hours and making thousands of images, he believed he found what he had been looking for – Birds doing stuff.

Turning a loss of freelance photography work and isolation from Covid to his advantage, Steve Jessmore vowed to make this gift of time a learning experience. Mid-2020 he began making pictures of his new-found passion. Using his career photojournalism skills and storytelling roots, Jessmore began capturing wildlife being wildlife and living their lives in the communities around him. Hundreds of hours and tens of thousands of photos later, he gained confidence in the new craft he was learning. In 2021 less than a year after starting to photograph birds, two of his images swept the professional division of the National 2021 Audubon Society’s photography contest, winning 1st and honorable mention.

Following his community roots as a photojournalist, Jessmore has captured moments of wildlife nearly entirely in Michigan. He has photographed primarily near his Grand Rapids home and at their cottage on the Torch River. He believes there’s so much around him that he doesn’t need to chase the unusual to find satisfaction. “I love to create art in dynamic situations which feature wildlife moments in the communities around me’” he said.

“I approach birds with the same ethics I’ve practiced in my photojournalism. I don’t make them fly, bait them or try to intrude on their lives, but rather let them be themselves. I am the casual observer creating images and making art.”

Jessmore’s hope is that his images can be a voice for the birds, bringing awareness to these treasures that lives amongst us and how fragile the environment is. He would like us to take notice and realize we need to be stewards. We can enjoy our time among them, but realize we need to take care and preserve their habitat and our resources so we can all continue to live side by side.

You can support Jessmore and help continue this important work here.

STEVE JESSMORE BIO

Steve Jessmore, of Alto, Mich., has been a photographer his entire life. Known for his community and storytelling focus, he was a 35-year photojournalist working as chief photographer/Director of Photography for the Flint Journal, The Saginaw News and the Myrtle Beach Sun News.  He’s won numerous Michigan, national and international photojournalism awards and has been named a five-time Michigan Photographer of the Year and Robert F. Kennedy Photojournalism awardee. He also was staff photographer for his alma mater Central Michigan University for five-years.

In August of 2018 Jessmore stepped away from Central Michigan University, got married and moved to Grand Rapids. He began freelancing full time for colleges and universities which he continues to do.

Steve Jessmore

When his freelance work was put on hold in 2020 due to Covid pandemic Jessmore struggled to stay busy. He set a goal to be constructive with his time, learn something new and set out to improve his photography. That experiment led him on a path to becoming an avid outdoor photographer with a love for all wildlife- but especially birds.

In 2021, two of his bird images swept the professional division of the National 2021 Audubon Photography contest, winning 1st and HM. He won another first place in the 2022 national contest- The Fisher Prize for the most creative approach to photographing with his image “Feeding Frenzy” featuring Norther Shoveler ducks. This image also graced the cover of the Audubon’s summer awards issue magazine. His 2021 winning “Northern and Cardinal in Flight” is also featured on the official National Audubon 2023 membership card.

Jessmore’s and his avian photography has been featured/published on WCMU’s Discover Michigan, NPR Stateside, WOOD-TV 8, M-LIVE and ABC On Your Side. He’s been published in National Audubon Magazine, The Smithsonian, Ducks Unlimited and Cornell Lab of Ornithology annual report. He’s had solo exhibitions of his art at the Baber Gallery at Central Michigan University, The Saginaw Art Museum, The Flint Art Walk, and also at Saginaw Valley State University.

Life Plays On: A caregiver caught between two generations – By Madeline Powell

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Virgil Bowlin balances the care of his music, children, and mother. Ultimately navigating being a caregiver across different generations.

Senior Visual Journalism & Photography major Madeline Powell documents the life of Virgil Bowlin, a musician and music instructor who finds himself raising his kids while at the same time caring for his mother.  Her multimedia project examines “The Sandwich Generation,” a growing group of adults who juggle responsibilities while trying to live their own lives. To see the entire project visit: http://madelinepowellmedia.com/lifeplayson

 

Posted in: Advanced Short Form Doc, Mountain Workshops, Student Work, Through Our Eyes, Web Narratives

A New Road to Travel – By Brett Phelps

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Eighty-one-year-old Jim Henry has always lived life to the fullest. However, on June 6, 2017, Henry’s life changed forever when he experienced a series of debilitating strokes. While Henry grieves the loss of his former life, he is adapting to a new road he did not intend to travel.

Brett Phelps a Senior in the WKU Visual Journalism & Photography program, documented Jim Henry’s journey while exploring the signs and symptoms associated with stroke, in an immersive multimedia project. Click to View: https://brettphelps.com/a-new-road-to-travel

 

Posted in: Advanced Short Form Doc, Student Work, Web Narratives

49th Mountain Workshops Gallery exhibition open

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The School of Media & Communication is proud to announce the opening of the latest exhibition Feels Like Home: Williamsburg, Whitley County, Kentucky at the Gallery in Jody Richards Hall.

JRH Gallery Through February 21

  • M-W: 9:00 am – 7:00 pm
  • TH-F: 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
  • Gallery is closed when WKU is closed.

 

In the Southeast corner of Kentucky near Tennessee and Virginia, Whitley County is a mountain landscape sliced by Interstate 75 and the Cumberland River. The city of Corbin is on the north end and Williamsburg, the county seat and home to the University of the Cumberlands, lies in the center. This is an Appalachian community with a rich past where friendly, hard-working people are trying to figure out their future.

“This is my community, this is my people and this is what is important to me,” local resident Laurel West said. “It feels like home; it’s good people here and that makes a difference.”

Directed by Western Kentucky University’s Visual Journalism & Photography program, 77 student and professional photographers and videographers from around the nation, along with a staff of nearly 60 educators, editors and assistants, spent the last week of October 2024 capturing the stories of this distinctive American community.

“You need a little swagger,” Williamsburg Mayor Roddy Harrison said. “Larger cities might have more swagger, but we can swag with the best of them. You have to see our community to understand our community.”

Come and see the swagger now through February 21 on the campus of WKU at Jody Richards Hall.

 

Student Spotlight – Adin Parks

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Adin Parks is a Junior, Visual Journalism & Photography major from Louisville, Kentucky. Last summer he interned at the Evansville Living Magazine and is the chief photographer on staff at WKU Herald. Here is some of his work from the past year at WKU.

https://parksshots.com/

Parks video “Living Twinkle Jon Stinkle” was part of his final for the Intro to Short Form Documentary class last year.

Clowning isn’t just a hobby for Bowling Green senior Cassidy Resch; it’s a lifestyle. Resch has performed as clown Twinkle Jon Stinkle since early 2023, using their background in theatre and dance to supply their clown with life. Resch is a clown, with or without makeup.

“Everyone’s a clown,” they said. “Few are brave enough to show it.”

Although Resch does not dress as a clown often, they said they enjoy doing so to go out and meet all sorts of people. The musical theatre major hopes to be a clown or on stage for their future career.

 

After school, Asher and his girlfriend, Harley Frazier, relax while taking turns playing a video game.

A young farmer awaits the small animal auction to begin during the 40th Annual Southern Kentucky Horse Drawn Machinery Consignment Auction.  The one day event draws in thousands from the Amish and Mennonite communities looking to purchase non-motor driven equipment and farm animals.

Greek life members of the Fraternities Sigma Chi, Iota Phi Theta and Sorority Phi Mu all participate in chants before the parade begins at the WKU’s annual Homecoming Parade on Friday, November 10th 2023 in Bowling Green KY.

Posted in: Intro to Short Doc, Student Work, Through Our Eyes

Student Spotlight – Kayden Mulrooney

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Kayden Mulrooney is a Junior, Visual Journalism & Photography and a Political Science major from Louisville, Kentucky. She will intern at the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer this summer as their staff photographer. This fall she produced multiple videos as part of the Advanced Short Form Documentary class.  She currently serves as the Web Visuals Editor for the Talisman Magazine.

http://kaydenmulrooney.com/

For Lori Mutter, beekeeping is more than just a hobby.

Pomp ‘Till You Drop: Creating a WKU Homecoming Float

There is one word that strikes a chord in the hearts of every member of Greek life: “pomping.” For one week, fraternities and sororities spend hours making tiny balls of tissue paper to turn into a float for Homecoming. Alpha Delta Pi, Kappa Sigma and Zeta Phi Beta joined forces to create their float before the homecoming parade on Saturday, Nov. 15. Talisman videographer Kayden Mulrooney went behind the scenes to capture the work that goes into each float.

Posted in: Intro to Short Doc, Student Work, Through Our Eyes

Emilee Arnold

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Senior Visual Journalism and Photography student Emilee Arnold of Bowling Green, Ky heads into her final year at WKU, documenting some of her strongest work. Spring 2024 Advanced Photojournalism class focused on in-depth phicture stories combined with her advanced lighting class, prepared her for her summer internship at The Chautauquan Daily. Here are a few of her pictures from the past year.

 

Warren County Regional Jail inmate Donald Weaver, serving the last day of his sentence, shoots a basketball toward the goal in the gymnasium in Bowling Green, KY on February 28, 2024.

 

Children in a Bowling Green, Kentucky apartment complex home to many in the city’s Tanzanian-American community gather around a backdrop before a portrait shoot on April 8, 2024. Tanzanian- and Congolese-Americans make up a significant portion of the city’s refugee population, with over 1,200 immigrants arriving from the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 2018.

 

Kelly Carr hugs her daughter Everleigh Gant after Gant finishes singing her favorite song during breakfast at Auburn Diner in Auburn, Ky on February 6, 2024.

 

David Dye cuts the hair of a client at Dye’s Barber Shop in Bowling Green, KY on February 7, 2024. “I’ve been here for over fifty years,” Dye laughs. “I probably gave him his first haircut.”

 

 

Posted in: Advanced Lighting, Internship, Introduction to Photojournalism, Student Work, Through Our Eyes

Dominic Di Palermo

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A junior transfer student from Chicago, Dominic Di Palermo has spent his past year in WKU’s Visual Journalism and Photography program, becoming involved in student publications and and trying to make the most of his time. Di Palermo secured an internship at the St. Louis Post Dispatch during the summer of 2024 where sports drove his passion.  Here are a few images from stories and assignments Di Palermo worked on this past year.

Dijana Muminovic spends time with her father Kemal Muminovic in a hospital room at the Medical Center in Bowling Green, Ky. on Friday, April 19, 2024. Kemal Muminovic who was battling Stage 4 gastric cancer passed away the following Wednesday, April 24.

 

Jamie Mueller (left), who’s been homeless for around six months, and Corinthians Robinson, who’s been homeless for almost five months, embrace during a memorial service for their friend John Paul “JP” Yarborough hosted by New Life Evangelistic Center on the train tracks where he was struck at the intersection of Florida Street and North 1st Street in St. Louis, Mo. on Wednesday, July 17, 2024. Mueller claimed to have been the first person to find his body earlier that week. “I knew he was was struggling,” Mueller said. “I definitely did. As we all are.”

 

Alpha Gamma Delta freshman Addileigh Wofford, left, pulls the rope while her coach Alumn Baylee Lackey screams at her during the annual WKU Greek Week “Tug” competition on Friday, April 19, 2024.

 

Portland Timbers goalkeeper James Pantemis (41), middle, dives past St. Louis City SC’s defender Anthony Markanich (13), right, and defender Joakim Nilsson (4) to save a goal during the first half of a game at CityPark stadium in St. Louis, Mo. on Saturday, June 8, 2024.

 

Posted in: Internship, Introduction to Photojournalism, Student Work, Through Our Eyes