by Megan Tan
When the program director of Parker Bennett Community Center Sabrina Johnson pairs up with Miss Black Western of 2013 Porshia Austin to host their first beauty pageant, their intensions of giving a group of young girls the opportunity to perform for the first time becomes more challenging than they expect.
by Ian Maule
William Poteet has a gift to be able to do college level math at the age of ten. While many people see this as lucky, William must walk a delicate balance between achieving his academic potential and fitting in socially with his peers.
In the hilly countryside of Fordsville, Ky., 60-year-old Faron Cox spends his days in the same double wide trailer where he spent his childhood. Following the loss of his father in 2006, Cox inherited the home in addition to the expanse of land he now looks after.
At an age when most are retiring, Cox faces the daily challenges and struggles of raising his two youngest sons, Faron “Bear” Cox, 8 and Skylor “Tiber” Cox, 4.
Reality hits often for Faron as he finds himself worrying about the demands of childcare and his diminishing health. He relies on his disability check and pain medication for his back to get through the fiscal and physical challenges of each day.
A tense and complicated relationship with the children’s mother leaves Faron as a single father. Now, he questions the time he has left to watch his children grow.
It may appear as though Amy, her husband Jon, and their 7 children live disconnected from society and even reality. They live in a home built by Jon’s own hands in the woods of Halfway, Ky., don’t rely on electricity and instead heat their home with a wooden stove, and homeschool their children. But the lives of the Jessup family are anything but isolated or out of touch. Identifying themselves as a tailored mix of Christian, Messianic, and Anarchist, the Jessup family proudly abide by their own conscientious design and unconventional path.
Last fall, Amy found a lump in her neck that turned out to be a cancerous tumor, and has decided to attempt to cure it naturally; a treatment consisting of alternative medicine practices including an IV treatment, tinctures, a frequency machine, and applying hemp oil to her neck and maintaining a raw diet. Amy is so strong-willed and convicted in her beliefs that she is willing to break the law, purchasing medical marijuana from out of state to make the oil, or ‘medicine,’ as she calls it, in her own back yard. This is just one example of the independent and uncompromising spirit of the Jessups.
Amy is not a standalone character, she is defined by her family as a whole, a single unit, and everything she does is for them. This story is about the bond of family, about making personal judgements and challenging modern medical science. It’s also about taking major risks and disregarding societal conformity. They struggle like all families do, from financial constraints to siblings not getting along.
George Wolffbrandt loves his land.
He has lived, worked and raised his family on the 200 acre farm for 25 years, where he his wife Cheryl grow their own food and raise livestock.
The property is dotted with old cemeteries, historical sites and endangered species but may soon have to share the space with a proposed $400 million two-lane road that would stretch 13 miles between I-75 and US 27 in Nicholasville, Ky.
Of the highway’s potential routes, one runs directly through Wolffbrandt’s farm.
Handicapped members of some ethnic groups in Tanzanian ethnic groups face undue societal stigma due to lingering superstitions.
These prejudices, mixed with living conditions that are rarely handicap accessible, create challenges for this population that are unimaginable in the developed world.
Against those odds, the Faraja School for the handicapped in Sanya Juu, Tanzania is striving to change these attitudes and perceptions and has become one the leading academic schools in its district even when compared to those for able-bodied students.
At 40 years old, wrestler Chris Michaels, of Franklin, Ky., still considers his life to be “pretty much neck and neck with being a rock star.” The father of three believes he’s at the peak of his career, and shows no signs of stopping. “It’s all smoke and mirrors and flashing lights,” says Michaels, “but I try to live that illusion, like I’m surrounded by women and partying all the time. Sometimes though I wish I was normal.”
by Danny Guy
Amanda Day, a single mother of three, struggles to raise her children Killian, 14, Zane, 12, and Aiyana 11 who are all on the Autism Spectrum. Physically, the Day children are considered normal but each of them has an array of sensory and developmental disorders that hinder them from interacting with the world around them. Though her children’s autism is trying on Amanda’s daily life, it is their love for one another, she says, that always keeps them moving forward.
By: Katie McLean
A nun is defined as a woman who is a member of a religious order, especially one bound by vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are 21st century queer nuns. They live with modified vows of traditional nuns and raise awareness for LGBT organizations.
Jackson Cofer has completely separated himself from Tina Maria. Tina is a person of the past as Jackson now leads a new life in Lexington, KY with support from friends and family.