Search Results: origin story
Of Faith and Loyalty
The office of Palestinian-born shop owner Munir Yameen is a warm and congenial space, adorned by a black-and-white photo of Yameen as a young man in uniform, a smattering of carefully framed verses from the Quran and the customary photos of children and grandchildren. But the most striking photo on display is of his grandson Tarik standing…
In ‘Service,’ A Celebrated Photographer Turns His Lens On U.S. Troops
As a celebrated portrait photographer, Platon Antoniou (who goes professionally by his first name) is well-known for his close-up depictions of the powerful. He has aimed his camera at the faces of celebrities and world leaders ranging from Vladimir Putin and Moammar Gadhafi to Willie Nelson and Woody Allen. “Sometimes,” he says, “you look in…
Summer of Shakespeare in KC
In 1623, a couple of guys got together and self-published some work by a dead friend of theirs named William Shakespeare. Four hundred years later, this piece of “vanity publishing” is considered to be the crown jewel of our Western canon. Shakespeare’s First Folio, as it is now known, is one of the…
Sympathetic Vibrations | Local Goes Focal
Kansas City’s perceived contribution to America’s cultural heritage has been typically limited to smoky clubs (jazz), outdoor shacks (blues), and white napkins covered in red splotches (barbecue). But times have changed. Kansas City’s efforts to embrace the arts have altered its very makeup over the last decade, and the nation has taken notice. An extremely…
Who’s Winning, and Losing, In Port KC Development Projects
When Kansas City needed help to keep a prestigious global architecture firm from leaving town last year, it reached out to an unlikely partner — the Port Authority of Kansas City. The loss of the firm, Populous architecture, which designs sports arenas around the world, would have been a huge blow to Kansas City and…
Election Voices
After a year of campaigning by city officials to keep the 1 percent earnings tax afloat for the next five years, Kansas City voters will ultimately make that decision today in KCMO’s school board and special election. Generating around $230 million dollars annually, the earnings tax is the biggest source of revenue for the city…
Muslim Like Me | To Keep Searching
According to the Pew Research Center, Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the world, and Muslims currently make up just less than 1 percent of the total U.S. population. Pew projects the numbers of Muslims in America to grow to 2.1 percent of the population by the year 2050. What these findings suggest is that Islam,…
Fountain City Frequency |Getting Real About A Complex Diagnosis
Kevin Bryce is a filmmaker from Kansas City, Missouri. His 2012 documentary “We Are Superman” (produced by Re:Dream‘s Christopher Cook) explored the after-effects of hyper-segregation on Troost, and a movement trying to transform it from a dividing line into a gathering place. Bryce’s newest documentary “All These Flowers” investigates bipolar disorder through the stories of six people who been…
A Familiar Space Becomes A Beer Place
Heavy trucks, laden with construction materials, thud down Genessee Street in the West Bottoms. The trucks roll past storefronts covered in butcher paper and the old site of the Golden Ox, which is now set to be reborn in two stages with two businesses. First up is the Stockyards Brewing Company (1600 Genessee Street, Suite…
Commentary | Let Common Sense Prevail In Battle Over Religious Liberty
The very day in late February that five Republican candidates for president participated in a smash-mouth debate in Texas with much moaning and gnashing of teeth about the erosion of religious freedom in the United States, these things also happened: I gathered with Episcopalians, Catholics, and mainline Protestants for a Bible study I help to…