People & Places
30 Stories in 30 Days | From Legos to Opening Night to Beer
Videographer Alden Miller has created a challenge for himself: In the month of April, tell one story about Kansas City each day. Yup, that’s each and every day. Here at Flatland, we’ve teamed up with the dangerously-living Mr. Miller to showcase that work throughout the month. We’ll check in with him at Alchemy New Media weekly to…
A Calling to Bring People Together
This article was first printed in UMKC’s University News, and is reprinted by permission here. Hope Austin is a UMKC creative writing student and a community producer for KCPT’s Beyond Belief project. On April 13, 2014, outside the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City, white supremacist Frazier Glenn Miller opened fire on an unsuspecting…
Muslim Like Me | Powered by Love, Acceptance, and Coffee
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…
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…
Cary Esser: A Ceramist for the 21st Century
At age 19, Cary Esser flew alone from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to Kansas City, a place she’d never been. “When I got off the plane,” Esser recalled in a recent interview, “I just walked up to somebody and asked, ‘Can you tell me how to get to the Kansas City Art Institute?’” Esser had…
How KC is | Big 12 Championship Tournament
We’re asking the question: How “Kansas City” is… for all the good stuff going on in our world. On today? The Big 12 Championship tourney is taking over Power & Light this weekend in Kansas City. But just how well-represented is KC inside the Sprint Center? Check out the video above, and if you know of something that didn’t make the cut send…
The Younger Games
When Lee’s Summit West High School’s archery team broke the Missouri state record for highest team score on January 30th, head coach David Winslow looked over to his staff. High-fiving and hugging each other, his assistant coaches reveled in the moment. It was the accumulation of work that had been years in the making. Nearby,…
Bloody, MO | Willie ‘The Rat’ Cammisano
Welcome to “Bloody, MO,” a Civil War-through-modern day video peek into Kansas City’s bloody past – starring equally notorious and unknown gunslingers, fire-starters, and godfathers. Today: Willie “The Rat” Cammisano A legend in the Missouri underworld and holder of one of the most fearsome and lethal reputations in Kansas City mafia history, Willie “The Rat” Cammisano died a…
Back Into the ‘Underground’
During dress rehearsal Wednesday night, co-choreographer Tobin James of Storling Dance Theater’s “Underground” at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts struggled to speak. Sick, exhausted, her voice shot, she breathed deep as she watched the final rehearsal from a dark corner offstage. Twenty rows back in the sixteen hundred seat auditorium, co-choreographer Mona Enna…
Bloody, MO | Sharon ‘La Pistolera’ Kinne
Welcome to “Bloody, MO,” a Civil War-through-modern day video peek into Kansas City’s bloody past – starring equally notorious and unknown gunslingers, fire-starters, and godfathers. Today: Sharon “La Pistolera” Kinne Sharon Kinne was known to shoot her way out of a situation she didn’t want to be in, earning her the nickname “La Pistolera.” Connected to at least three…