In the mid 1900’s roughly one-third of Alma College’s student body was involved in the performing arts either through music, dance, or theatre, and there was not enough space to house all of the college’s performing arts groups. The college was in desperate need of a performance center. Designs and drawings of such a center were first seen in a 1962 yearbook. However, the construction did...
Years after civil rights pioneers, like Martin Luther King Jnr., walked the Birmingham streets protesting against segregation and for equal opportunity, influenced black Baptist preachers rewalked the march route in September 1995. Raising awareness for a campaign to increase the black polling population nationwide; march leader Rev. Dr. Henry Lyons hoped black voters would help...
Wonda L. Fontenot, 20th century cultural ethnographer, stepped out onto the backwood swamplands of rural southwest Louisiana. This is Opelousas Territority, an area of the U.S. that encapsulates remnants of French, West Africa, and Native American elements. Fontenot is greeted by the son of Tee Begbe, infamous “Secret Doctor”, with the salutation of, “Ca va’?” – “How’s...
The experience of US troops returning from action in Operation Desert Storm, commonly referred to as the First Gulf War was markedly different from that of troops returning after the Vietnam War. In 1991 they were invited to take part in what the Los Angeles Times termed “the biggest victory celebration since the end of WWII,” in Washington D.C. Despite opposition from some, the “overall...
By the 1990s popular opinion had turned against the stream of immigrants that had begun in the early 1980s, and illegal ones in particular (who amplified all the traditional anti-immigrant accusations of undermining wages and straining public services). In California this resentment was fanned by local politicians, including Republican Governor Pete Wilson - who was staring electoral defeat in the...
In the Fall of 1995 the Los Angeles Times gave a hard look at Los Angeles’ ethnic gulf and noted how the city was balkanizing. The city of Los Angeles has long been a tense place in terms of race-relations. The intermixing of different peoples set the stage for violent race riots in the early 1990s, which were kicked off when Rodney King was beat savagely in 1992 by four LAPD officers and the...
The alumni of Alma College have received multiple awards and honors, been chairs of multiple boards, published works of art and literature, started businesses, and crossed into foreign territory to defend our freedom. To name all the successful alumni of Alma College would be a feat, so only a few alumni will be highlighted. The following alumni have succeeded both during and after their time at...
In the 1990s, there was an extreme influx of violence and sex in comics. In Amazing Heroes #191, released in June 1991, science fiction, fantasy, and horror writer, Adam-Troy Castro, wrote a review of a series of sex comics. This publication problematizes the majority of these comics for their lack of substance and oversexualization of women. Many of the comics are completely degrading...
The comic, Astor City, connects with and is shaped by events in US history. The city ages in real time Astro City connects Astro City, written by Kurt Busiek, gave a new look into the superhero comic. Contrary to most superhero comics, Astro City does not concentrate on the life of a single hero or group of heroes, but rather the city and the people living in it.
Astro City, the comic, does...
In 2007, the last supermarket closed in Detroit. Although faced with an abundance of fast food options, scholars dubbed Detroit a "food desert." The only place that the 80%-black citizens could get fresh food was gas stations and liquor stores . Even then, the food was more expensive and Detroiters had fewer healthy options than their suburban counterparts. Detroiters displayed high rates of obesity...