Youngstown’s regional culture magazine for loving life and living

Gd [The Yo* Magazine]

*the identity issue, fall 2008

grit in their blood

Using the tough Youngstown
image to get ahead

Race to the finish line: did skin color

affect Youngstown’s vote?
 Letter from the editors Editors
Sarah Sole
Identity Issue
ssole@theyomag.com
Richard Louis Boccia
rboccia@theyomag.com
Fall 2008
Contributing Writers
Mariam Bshara
Cristina Cala

3
Doug Dierkes
Sam Marhulik
Todd Mounce
YOU ARE HERE

4
Sam Pysher
Sarah Sole Music
Emmalee Torisk The Zou, back in their
Dear readers, Jessica Woods natural habitat
Living in the Yo’ means dealing with grit. It’s part of the Copy Editor
city’s identity, and part of ours. Some people, like Omarosa Chelsea Pflugh

6
and artist Bob Barko Jr. have built a career around the tough Election ’08
Designers
image of Youngstown (pages 12 and 18), but identity can be an Richard Louis Boccia investigating race in
obstacle as much as a career starter. Cristina Cala color
Kristy Chen
For the women who work as exotic dancers, it’s a struggle to Adam Rogers
Sarah Sole
define themselves as something more (page 15). For the two
bands we get to know in this issue, identity is not restricting — Web Designer
The Zou is based in Youngstown but tours the country (page 4), Adam Rogers
and Family Force 5 isn’t your typical Christian band (page 14).

Pursuing your hobby of choice can mean breaking gender

expectations, like a woman who hunts and a man who knits
(page 19). And in this historic election year, racial identity was
on the minds of many in the Yo’ (page 6).

Identity can restrict or emancipate, clarify or confuse. What we

do know is that the grit of Youngstown is in our blood. We can
deny the city’s image or use it to our advantage.

12
Yo’ Celebrities
Richard Louis Boccia Sarah Sole how the city of grit
made them strong

More music

14
A mainstream
Christian rock
revolution

15 Exotic dancers
Getting under
their skin

Art
inspired by the Yo’,

18
these artists are
getting national
attention

19 Gender roles undone

She hunts, he knits

The Yo’ Magazine started in 2007 after provided content for an early issue. Profile
students at Youngstown State University asked YSU alumna and founding editor Cristina

23
journalism faculty to help them obtain more Cala shaped the concept for The Yo’ with
Phil Kidd makes the
experience writing and publishing magazine- early issues, the last of which won Best in case for Youngstown
style stories. Professor Tim Francisco taught Show from the Associated Collegiate Press
the first magazine writing class, which at its Fall 2008 Convention in Kansas City. Yo’ Diary
Coming to America:
fall 2008 the dream gone bad
 Life’s a Zou
The band ran wild across America on tour, but here’s why they’ll
always come back to their native habitat in the Yo’.
By Doug Dierkes
A
s nice as life on the
road has been for The
Zou this year, with the
free meals,
songwriting and
haunted hotels, the band admits it’s
good to be home in Youngstown.
The Zou has been on four “mini-
tours” in 2008 alone, each lasting
somewhere around two or three
weeks. During this time they’ve
filmed a music video waiting
on a tow truck, set their van’s
GPS to moo whenever a
Dunkin Donuts is close
enough, performed at two
haunted hotels, and still
had time to iron out some
tracks for the new album
in basements and studios
across the country.
“You’d be surprised at
the kindness of people,”
muses frontman Khaled
# theyomag.com
Tabbara as he recalls a story from
the most recent tour. “We were
skateboarding at a gas station
in Florida, just dickin’ around
to stretch our legs ... we start a
conversation with this skater kid,
and near the end of it he says,
‘I’m housesitting for this mansion,
do you guys need a place to
crash?’”

Still, it’s not quite the same
as the Yo’.
“I don’t think we could run our
band the way we do in any other
city,” admits bassist Murad Shorrab.
“We’ve all got part-time jobs with
flexible schedules, and everything’s
cheap here. I have this beautiful
apartment for $350 a month that
would easily cost, like, $1,200 a
month in New York. I’d never be
able to leave as much as I do now
if I had to pay $1,200 a month
for rent. And then you have guys
like Phil Kidd, making downtown
The Zou’s
frontman
Khaled
Tabbara
Youngstown receivable to our
music. I’ve never heard him say no
[to our ideas.]”
Tabbara adds, “We could never
get to play in cities like Chicago
with the ease that we do now if
we lived in New York, either. We
got [shows in] Toronto, Cleveland,
Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Detroit
... all within our reach because of
Youngstown.”
Besides letting them see the
world outside the Yo’, this touring
schedule has solidified the band’s
identity. Back in its early days,
Tabbara admits there wasn’t much
of a band behind the name. He was
basically a solo artist recruiting
one-night performers to help flesh
out his songs. “The current form has
really only been together for the
last two years, and we’ve only really
gelled together as a band this year.”
“You have no idea how much
you’ll miss your bed once you
leave,” Tabbara said.


In the middle of Youngstown
across from a U-Haul rental
center sits a giant monstrosity
of a building. One end proudly
proclaims itself a postal service
area — the lower sections show off
metalworking machinery from the
few windows that aren’t boarded
up. And if you’re willing to take
a ride up an old freight elevator
to the second floor, you can find
Ampreon Studios, a place that has
been the nesting grounds of The
Zou since 2004.
The atmosphere in the studio
is oddly relaxing as the prototype
version of “Forget My Name”
blasts from the speakers. Inside
the recording area, vintage guitars
line the wall over a classic piano,
and posters from local concerts
and the movie “Falling Down” stand
out from the lime green paint. The
production area is equally laid
back. The couch is comfortably
broken in, the walls are filled with
images of classic rock musicians,
and the only thing separating the
digital mixer from the classic tape
recorder is a wall of speakers,
each one hand-wired by a former
member of the Dead Boys.
“We always record on tape first,
then transfer everything to digital,”
Tabbara says. “You can’t recreate
that kind of distortion with anything
digital. It comes off sounding cold.”
As fans continue to catch the
band in concert, or download their
“Pinebox EP” for free on MySpace,
The Zou is hard at work finishing
their latest album for its Nov. 29
release.
“We’re calling it ‘Archaeopteryx’
right now,” Shorrab says. “It was
one of those fossils that was found
... it had the bones of a dinosaur,
but there were remnants of feathers.
It was almost like a snapshot of a
transitory period, kind of like where
we are now.”
Tabbara also likes the image
because evolution, like the band’s
songwriting, is a constant process.
“You’re out there trying new
things every night — sometimes it
works, sometimes it doesn’t. But our
songs are always evolving, always
changing, and when we put out a
record it’s almost like we’re taking
a snapshot, as if to say, ‘This is what
it sounds like at this moment.’ But
we’re always experimenting with
our sound.”
Everything about this mastering
session shows how comfortable
The Zou is working together.
Conversations frequently switch
from, “What are we recording
next?” to “I feel like Olivia-Newton
John now that I’m wearing this
headband,” without skipping a
beat. Murad tunes in his bass guitar
by playing an unplugged version
of the “Debbie Does Dallas” theme
music, and Dean Anshutz tests the
recording setup for his drum kit by
playing “Max Weinberg-style.” This
starts a ten-minute conversation on
Bruce Springsteen, including the
“I don’t think we could run our band the way we
do in any other city.” — bassist Murad Shorrab
fall 2008
line, “Jenny was a furnace? Well,
of the Zou
now the song finally makes sense.”
As laid-back as the mastering
Photos courtesy
process is, the band admits the
music is a labor of love.
“You get out of it what you put
into it,” Tabbara says. “We just
keep putting more into our music,
expecting it to plateau, but it
doesn’t. The more energy you put
into something, the more interesting
it becomes. When you put as much
time and effort into this as we have,
when you finally get to that finished
thing, you’re in love with it rather
than just, ‘Oh, it’s cool.’”
On stage, The Zou always
manages to get a crowd dancing,
clapping, singing — completely
involved in the music. Off stage,
they discuss what needs to be done
with their new songs as much as
how to make their old tunes better.
Guitarist Rob Thorndike condenses
these talks into a 30-cent notebook
which the band uses to guide the
recording process.
This devotion to their sound
comes at a price. Studio time,
printing CDs and keeping the van
fueled during tours all have their
costs. Yet, The Zou comes out of this
with another triumph. beard every year for a performance
“We don’t have any financial of “How the Drag Queen Stole
backers ... we’re the only band Christmas.” As a whole, the
I know that’s completely self- members have also given musical
sustained,” Tabbara says. “We pay contributions to a Beatles tribute
for our own albums, all of our gear album and the Youngstown-made
and all the T-shirts we sell. We make movie “Fine Tune.”
money as a band that goes back “Even if we had our instruments
into the band. It’s a punk rock kind taken away, we’d still find some
of way to run a band, but it works way to express ourselves,” Tabbara
for us.” says. “We’re a bunch of creative,
Shorrab’s views are a little artistic people, and we’d find some
darker. “Getting to the point where way of getting our message heard.
we could give up our jobs and just If not through music, then poetry or
be full-time musicians ... I don’t see painting.”
that happening for us anytime in the The Zou is also optimistic about
near future.” the future of Youngstown.
But music runs in the veins of The “We have these great resources
Zou as much as caffeine. Khaled has like Mill Creek Park and the
won a few awards for his solo work Mahoning River ... and we take
as a singer/songwriter, Rob gives them for granted,” Shorrab states.
lessons at Hubbard Music when not “We have far too many people out
playing for YSU’s jazz ensembles, there still defining us as ‘Steel Town’
and Dean conducts the drum line or ‘Murder Town.’ That’s in the past.
of the YSU Marching Band in his off Once we find something to define
hours. Murad works for the Oakland ourselves in the present and in the
Center for the Arts, and shaves his future ... we’ll be unstoppable.” *
#
 It’s not a black-and-white issue.

Inve s t i ga t i n g ra c e
IN COLOR By Cristina Cala
Photography by Juliana Cala

FAMILY PORTRAIT — Tina Fleisher,

a YSU social work student, holds an
Obama sign in protest of a campus
appearance by John McCain for a live
broadcast of “Good Morning America”
days before the presidential election.
Fleisher brought her children, including
son Darnell Jones, pictured behind her,
to the event.

6 theyomag.com
 T
ina Fleisher is prepared to be judged.
She has a sweet softness about her
once she gets talking, and though she’s
a good mom, she may be feeling a little
shy today about bringing her children
with her to a place she knows she’ll stick out like
a sore thumb. The whites of her eyes flash bright
against the beautifully dark skin on her round face
as she gingerly leads her flock, single-file, into a
gymnasium echoing with the sounds of patriotic
marching band music and screaming cheers.
The crowd that has gathered is ornamented with
McCain-Palin signs and “Nobama” T-shirts, and
Fleisher, 36, stands behind it in a secluded corner,
inching closer to the outskirts of the entrance after
a few minutes. Her ducklings are as young as 6 or 7
and as old as 18, holding homemade Obama signs,
their brown faces studying the crowd, knowing
that they’re out of their element here.
The America that
elected its first
black president
We all know what happened next. As a biracial
candidate, Barack Obama was a contender whose
two parts made whole for black and white America.
But what about for the tri-county area? How did
Obama win Ohio, and who is the America that
elected a black man as its leader?
Obama turned Ohio blue for the first time
since Bill Clinton’s presidency, but the state’s
voters are mixed, and though the steel labor days
of yore make the Mahoning Valley traditionally
Democratic, final, unofficial county polls show
that one of three counties here did prefer the
Republican from Arizona to the Democrat from
Illinois. Demographically speaking, the Columbiana
County that favored McCain has a mostly white, 43
percent rural population. Columbiana is 2.2 percent
black and 95.2 percent white, the U.S. Census
Bureau reports. With a greater black population
than Columbiana, Trumbull County — 8.2 percent
black and 89.7 percent white, according to the
Census Bureau — favored Obama to McCain,
Trumbull elections board unofficial poll results
fall 2008
Aside from an odd glance or two, no one
seems to notice. The crowd neither dismisses
nor acknowledges the black family who has
come to Youngstown State University to protest
an appearance by Republican John McCain four
days before the end of his run against the first
black man in American history to secure a major
party nomination in a presidential election.
The only recognition the family gets is an
“Excuse me, can I help you?” from a police
officer who sticks his pale hand in front of the
family as they try to pass.
As a black woman with seven kids in a world
of stereotypes, Fleisher is sure to emphasize
that she’s married to a wonderful husband. In
that same world, she is looking for change. Four
days from the 2008 general election, Fleisher
acknowledged that more minority voters were
energized in this election than ever before, but
show. Mahoning County exit polls revealed the most
support for Obama in the area, and its county has
the greatest black population at 15.3 percent to 81.1
white, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
But Dr. Bill Binning, professor and chair emeritus
of YSU’s political science department, stresses that
the reason Obama won overwhelmingly Caucasian
counties is because of “great organization” by
the Obama campaign, not race. County elections
boards’ exit polls don’t give data on racial ratios, and
Binning warns not to make assumptions about race
in the 2008 election.
“You take something away from Obama’s
brilliant campaign and massive victory if you make
the discussion of the election mainly about race,”
Binning said.
Though Mahoning and Trumbull reached
an Obama verdict, Binning said those counties
underperformed on turnout. In Democratic Valley
territory, voter turnout was 71 percent in Mahoning
and just under 70 percent in Trumbull. (Turnout was
67.86 percent in Columbiana, where McCain won.)
“Obama made it up elsewhere in Ohio and won
counties that Democrats seldom win,” Binning said
of how Obama won Ohio, with a 4 percent lead.
Obama‘s candidacy did increase black turnout
that benefited many other Democrats, in some
Congress races, he added.
It is true that blacks usually vote in favor of
Democrats, Binning said. But still, the discussion is all
said it’s because Obama’s the right candidate.
“I feel more minority voters are coming out
because they feel that he would be a better
candidate, someone who is going to bring
change to our country. That’s what we need,”
she said.
Obama’s overwhelming support from 
minorities — and how much that support has to
do with race — coincides with the dismal state
of the country and the need to fix it, in Democrat
Fleisher’s opinion.
“Now that we have a black man running for
president, a lot of them [are] saying, ‘OK, here’s
change. It’s time for change now, and we’re gonna
get out, and now we’re gonna vote,” Fleisher said.
“It’s about what’s right, doing the right thing and
electing someone that’s gonna come in and make
a difference.”
relative. Blacks make up about 13 percent of the U.S.
population, according to U.S. Census Bureau data,
but even if all blacks voters supported Obama, their
numbers wouldn’t have been enough to elect him.
In total, Binning offered, whites voted 43 percent
for Obama, blacks voted 95 percent in his favor, and
Latinos voted 66 percent for him.
Traditionally, a greater percentage of whites vote,
and this year whites still outnumbered the other
racial groups who cast a presidential vote, but by
considerably less, The Associated Press reported Nov.
4. An increase in black and Hispanic voting decreased
the number of white voters in the electorate from 81
percent in 2000 to 74 percent in 2008, according to the
AP report’s Harvard-professor source. There’s more to
it than just demographics, though.
“Race cuts both ways — it helps in some ways
for Obama and Democrats, and in some way it held
back votes,” Binning said. “But don’t lose sight of the
fact that the election was about economics and not
race. A majority of Americans wanted change.”
Though to some in Youngstown, the change
Obama offers is both for economic progress and the
progression of a race that has faced oppression. This
is a country whose white founders brought Africans
to serve centuries of slavery and whose public was
segregated until only half a century ago. This is a
country where black culture and pop culture have
mixed, and now it’s a country that has elected its first
mixed-race president.
7
 She’s been
waiting
Youngstown Obama supporter
Jacqueline Thomas, 58, predicted
he would win.
“We’re not into race so much
anymore as we’re into people,”
Thomas said, relieved that

RA
CE
“America has finally opened up.”
But the middle-aged black
woman can remember when race
significantly mattered. It was
a big deal when black people
were first on TV, a rare deal when
her dad was in the infantry in
World War II, a gruesome deal
when Jackie Robinson’s baseball
career began with boos and
heckling.
“On Sundays when Ed Sullivan
came on if The Temptations were
on, [or] somebody, we’d run
— you know, tell everybody in
the neighborhood — you know,
‘Black people gon’ be on TV
tonight!’”
Obama: represents change in a
damaged country whose
Now, it’s nothing to see blacks Symbol of the past, future is uncertain. That’s
on TV, and Thomas expected the enigma of the present, how Fleisher sees him.
To her young son, 18-
first black president to win over sign of the future
America in the Oval the way year-old Darnell Jones,
As progressive as his
Robinson did on the diamond. Obama represents hope for
election is on a historical
“At first they hated him; they the future, he says — hope that
timeline, Barack Obama is
booed; they threw paper at him. anyone can have, no matter his
somewhat of an enigma in
But once he went to winning background or skin color.
American politics. Certainly,
them games, they realized,
‘OK, well, we really don’t care
he is a symbol. Of what and to
whom is diverse. ‘Acting white’
what color he is,’” she said of To a middle-aged woman To New York Times blogger
Robinson’s debut as the first of color like Thomas, Obama Stephen J. Dubner, Obama
black Major League Baseball represents a shift in attitudes, represents diversity without actually
player in 1947. a chance for an abolishment of representing diversity’s reality. Three
“This is America: We have prejudices, a voice that went unheard days after Obama won the presidential
to quit caring about what color during her upbringing. election, Dubner posted a brief musing
people are. We’re all mixed up.” “In the younger generation, I don’t on the “acting white” theory, supported
think it matters so much anymore. You by scholars like Roland Fryer of Harvard.
look around this university, you see The theory suggests why some students
blacks and whites and Asians,” she said might avoid activities like education or
in front of YSU’s Beeghly Center after ballet: so that they’re not seen as trying to
an Oct. 17 Change We Need Rally, where act like a white person, which has penalties
Hillary Clinton stumped for the man to in some neighborhoods.
whom she lost the Democratic nomination. Twisting that theory, could it be possible
“They’re grouping together and playing that white people like Obama because they
together.” think he “acts” more white than black?
Whether racial prejudices will die off YSU senior Joe Iesue is a white American,
with the baby boomers depends upon if their a die-hard conservative and, as a student of
children and grandchildren still believe in what political science, an Obama campaign admirer.
their elders taught them, Thomas said. He thinks the notion is ridiculous.
“But a lot of those children, too, once they go “I don’t think Obama acts anything but himself.
off to college, they find out that that’s a bunch of … I think it’s sad when people feed into stereotypes
crap. Things are gonna change,” she said. of what a white person acts like and what a black
To a mother going to school and raising a family person acts like,” Iesue, 23, said. “It’s sad we want to give
in economically struggling Youngstown, Obama credit for his success only to his color of skin.”

8 theyomag.com

In a pre-election appearance
on MTV, Obama said, “Brothers
should pull up their pants,” and stop
showing their underwear: something
a white politician like John McCain
would not get away with on national
television during an election. If
Barack Obama’s family dynamics
were swapped with Sarah Palin’s, it
wouldn’t take much imagination to
conceive Americans’ perception of a
black First Family with five children,
one an infant and one an unwed
pregnant teen.
If Obama were white as opposed
to biracial, YSU freshman K’rin Simon,
18, is unsure whether it would have
made a favorable difference for him
in his run for president.
“I don’t know. … The people
that I know would probably look
differently at him,” said Simon, an
Independent Pennsylvania voter
who said she knows people who
vocalized that Obama’s skin color
disqualified their vote.
A white Obama would probably
have had an easier time getting the
votes of more whites, Republicans
and Democrats, in Simon’s opinion,
“because there’s a lot of racist
people, still.”
Barack Obama won America’s
approval with a traditional, nuclear
family, degrees from Columbia and
Harvard, a Harvard-grad wife, a 10-
year teaching position at University
of Chicago Law School, according to
the Chicago Tribune, and a career as
a community organizer. He’s been
regarded as eloquent and compared
to JFK by the media and peers.
Pop culture has even had
something to say about the GOP’s
last two presidential nominees,
too. Oliver Stone gave an almost-
empathetic look into the life of the
Bush-family black sheep with the
2008 film “W.” — a tale of alcoholism,
party days at Yale, job-jumping
and a misguided presidency. The
blogging community has swirled
with allegations that McCain finished
in the bottom of his United States
Naval Academy graduating class,
cheated on his first wife, left her
for a younger woman, displayed
discipline problems, crashed several
planes during his military career,
and publicly exhibited a hot temper.
In a lineup of three with those
respective characteristics and the
same skin color, would a choice be
more obvious?
A philosophy and sociology
major, YSU sophomore Mark Hoelzel
fall 2008
thinks the choice is specific to
the demographics of an area, and
might be less obvious in one like
Youngstown, where he says racial
divisions occur. Hoelzel, 20, spoke to
The Yo’ Magazine before Sen. Clinton
took center stage at her campus
rally two-and-a-half weeks before
the election. In Hoelzel’s opinion, a
Youngstown bias and ethnic roots
to the area were making Valley
voters “feel racist.” He said these
ethnic identities — his nice way of
saying why racial divisions here
occur — make Youngstown one of
the few areas where Democrats
were opting to vote for McCain
because of something like race.
Not speaking for the whole state
of Ohio and careful not to blame
Youngstown, Hoelzel says the city
just “happens to be” one of the areas
where racial divisions could matter
enough to cost a minority candidate
an election. And yet, Youngstown
elected a black mayor — the first
here — in 2004.
Mayor Jay Williams spoke to The
Yo’ Magazine four days before the
election, at a Bill Clinton rally for
Obama at Campbell Memorial High
School. Williams reminds that if
your audience is mixed, you have to
appeal to more than one group. Race
is something that Youngstown and
Ohio struggle with, the mayor said.
“The message I’ve tried to take is,
‘Youngstown has been here, and done
this.’ The fact that I was elected the first
African-American mayor of the city
of Youngstown — it wasn’t because
Youngstown is [a] majority black. I
had to appeal to blacks, obviously, but
I also had to appeal to whites. So to
me, Youngstown can set the stage of
breaking those molds and breaking
those paradigms and send a message
to the greater Mahoning Valley and to
the state of Ohio.”
Listening
for color
One month till Election Day,
Early Voting in Ohio,
YSU campus
If you can hear it, it’s over
whispers, inside private living
rooms, among inner circles ... or
it’s nowhere to be found. The voting
motive of race is, in reality, barely
audible at all.
Open Obama supporters were
optimistic about a party victory
on sunny Oct. 6, as Siri De Licori
sat at YSU, guitar in lap, hoping to
shuttle a maximum of Ohioans to
the Mahoning County board of
elections to register and/or vote
early. By the second-to-last shift of
the fourth day of a Youngstown stint
at Vote Today Ohio, a self-dubbed
nonpartisan, voter outreach effort,
only three people had jumped on the
bandwagon with shuttle driver De
Lecori, of Los Angeles.
De Licori was optimistic in his
cause, and in his support of Obama,
but general on the race issue.
He described the organization’s
successful recruits as a “mixture” of
races, and the target demographic
as “obviously” college students, and
even some professors. Meanwhile
AP reports were calling Vote
Today Ohio’s efforts unmatched
by a Republican counterpart, and
published photographs, in cities like
Columbus, of inner-city black voters
as part of the outreach endeavor.
De Licori’s view on race on the
presidential ballot is that it’s been
made into one invariable.
“You can’t help but see the
color of the skin,” he said, his own
paling in the bright afternoon sun.
Despite that inevitable recognition,
“Barack and his campaign have not
campaigned on that.”
In Time magazine’s Nov. 17 list of
“10 Things That Never Happened
Before” the 2008 campaign, No.
6 calls the past four decades
in American politics “truly
revolutionary” — citing greater
numbers of minority elected
officials, greater voter participation
of nonwhites, and Shirley Chisholm,
Jesse Jackson and Alan Keyes
running for president. And now with
the U.S.’s first black president-elect,
Time adds Obama to the list of the
revolutionary, with one exception to
the previous political progress by
minorities: “Not only was race not
Obama’s signature dimension by any
measure, but — with the exception of
the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy
— it was barely an issue at all.”
Responding to a Time magazine
article on the Obama camp’s cool-
man strategy to avoid portraying an
“angry-black-man image,” De Licori
pooh-poohs the magazine’s assertion
as an “old stereotype.”
“Martin Luther King Jr. got it right
when he said judge a man by his
character, not the color of his skin.”
As a landmark, De Licori is sure,
Obama “is here for the content of his
character.”
A Campus
Conservative
... Going Blue?
Let’s talk change. With Joe Iesue.
He’s a senior political science and
sociology major who’s been known
as a conservative on YSU’s campus
and in its student newspaper, The
Jambar, for the last four-and-a-half
years.
But four days before Election
Day, Iesue told The Yo’ Magazine
that he was still undecided. Iesue
supported George W. Bush through
both terms.
“My campaign is against
liberal ideology,” Iesue said over
background cheers from a “Good
Morning America” crowd at YSU,
where John McCain was making an
appearance for the live broadcast.
Yet Iesue, 23, was considering
Barack Obama.
“When the party even goes
against its own loyalties, it could be
time to sit there and say its time to
go shopping,” he said, suggesting
that he might be doing some of
his own on the left side of the
spectrum.
What had the student who
calls himself a “conservative first,
Republican second” considering
voting for Obama, ranked by
the National Journal as one of the
most liberal senators? For one,
McCain was not his first choice.
But what’s worth marveling is the
notion that Obama’s ubiquitous
slogan of “change” was at work in a
conservative.
“We keep going to our safe
areas … going to only that party
and pulling only that party’s lever.
That’s not bringing about a positive
change,” Iesue said.
Was he considering achieving
that change by voting for a
Democrat for the first time?
“I like to vote for what I feel is
the most important to American
people and if that means to vote for
a Democrat, if that means to vote for
a third party, if that means to vote for
a Republican, then so be it, I’ll do it,”
Iesue said.
By the end of the interview, he
had come back to home base.
“Right now the principle of
conservatism goes most in line
with the Republican Party so that’s
where I stay right now.”
The postelection verdict:
John McCain.
Iesue said it was “close down
to the wire,” but McCain’s “war
experience and compassion for our
men and women in uniform was the
deciding factor for me.”
–Cristina Cala #
 10 “[A classmate] was just
completely yelling at me
1 for voting for McCain
because he was white, and
he called
9 me several
names for
“There is still that.”
racism, and that — Christa
Parks
needs to be on political
addressed. ... But intolerance
I think those num-
bers are in the
minority, and you
can’t overstate
those.”
— Mark Hoelzel

1. Mark Hoelzel, 20, Independent

Is race a factor? Yes.
2 Should it be? It’s a testament to progress.
OK to cross party lines? Yes. But not in
instances where racism is what’s pushing
Democrats to McCain, which is a phe-
nomenon for this area.
2. Casey Fitch, 18, Republican
Is race a factor? Yes.
Should it be? No.
OK to cross party lines? No.
Main motive should be: Issues.
OK to consider race as a factor? No.
3. Justin Blair, 18, Democrat
Is race a factor? Not at all. Anybody can
run for president.
Should it be? No.
OK to cross party lines? If you liked the
other party’s candidate’s policies.
3 Main motive should be: Issues.
OK to consider race as a factor? Yes.
4.Andrea Armeni, 20, Republican
Is race a factor? No.
5. Stephen Cline, 21, Republican
who crossed party lines
Is race a factor? Yes.
Should it be? No. Vote for the best
candidate.
OK to cross party lines? Everybody has
the right to vote for who they want.
Main motive should be: The best
candidate.
OK to consider race as a factor? No.
6. John Jerome, 20, no affiliation
Is race a factor? Yes. Hopefully not in
Youngstown but it is down South.
4
Students on race’s
7. Joni Koneval, 20, Democrat
Is race a factor? It has been in the past, 8
but it’s shifting. There are racist people
out there, but it’s not the major factor.
Should it be? No.
OK to consider race as a factor? Yes.
8. Russ Waller, 23, Democrat
Is race a factor? Yes.
Should it be? No.
OK to cross party lines? Not if it’s ra-
cially motivated.
9. Christa Parks, 19, Republican
Is race a factor? Yes.
Should it be? No.
OK to cross party lines? Not for her,
personally.
Main motives should be: Issues, content
of character.
OK to consider race as a factor? It
7
should be about the issues.
10. Darnell Jones, 18, Democrat
Is race a factor? Yes. They won’t vote for
who they want to vote for. They only vote
for their skin color.
Should it be? It’s good that Obama’s race
brought record numbers of minorities
out.
Main motive should be: Change.
OK to consider race as a factor? Yes.
If you vote for who you want to vote
for and who you know is right.
–Cristina Cala
6 “People who are not

role in voting voting for Barack

Obama are going to
justify why they feel
5 people may not be
voting for [McCain]
instead.
I don’t think it’s
necessarily rac-
ist that minorities
are supporting
Barack Obama. ...
You could say that
McCain supporters
are only voting for
“I’m a Republican voting for Barack Obama. McCain because
... I can identify with him more.” he’s white.
— Stephen Cline — Joni Koneval
President of YSU College
10 Democrats
YSU Dems on Race
Two-and-a-half weeks till Election Day
Change We Need Rally with Hillary Clinton
YSU Beeghly Center
Before Obama won Ohio and the presidency, Time’s Oct. 20 issue
published poll results that reported the majority of polled voters saying
race is not a factor in their vote but it still matters to others. Forty-four
percent said they knew someone less likely to vote for Obama because
of his race; 54 percent said they didn’t.
In a crowd anticipating main speaker Clinton, stumping for Obama at
YSU, 18-year-old Justin Blair would have fit into the majority polled by
Time. He said he didn’t believe people were voting based on race. YSU
freshman Blair, who is black, said he didn’t know anyone who had said
they wouldn’t vote for Barack Obama because of his race.
On why he backed Obama, he said, “I feel that he could bring more
jobs to this area, and my parents can get better health care.”
Blair said he doesn’t think there’s a difference in the way that blacks
and whites perceive Obama.
“I think it’s the same, about the same. Most people like Barack,” Blair
said, describing which groups might be more likely to vote for Obama
regionwide, statewide and nationwide.
Standing with Blair, YSU grad student Russ Waller offered a more
moderate view on race’s affect on the vote. Waller, who is white, agreed
that race is not the overriding factor though it plays a role.
“I know a few people who won’t vote for Obama because of his race,
who are — who call — themselves Democrats,” the 23-year-old said
before the election.
“Most people who would not vote for a black candidate would not be
a Democrat to begin with,” Waller said.
Waller did agree with Blair that blacks were not just voting for
Obama’s skin color — because Obama didn’t have most of the black
vote “when he first threw his hat into the race, and I think he really
earned their vote” based on issues, Waller said, bringing to mind a
Democratic-primary turning point when Obama won Iowa, 95 percent
white, over Clinton.
YSU Repubs on Race
Three days till Election Day,
‘Good Morning America’ with John McCain appearance,
YSU Beeghly Center
But McCain supporters rivaled Waller and Blair’s views, on the
reverse side of the black-and-white color coin, at the YSU segment of
“Good Morning America.” Student Casey Fitch, like Waller, said that
while she’s sure race is a factor, it shouldn’t be. But 18-year-old Fitch
alleges that it is the black demographic that is doing so.
“You have a lot of people who normally don’t vote who purposely do
go to the voting polls for Barack Obama, in particular, because of their
race, and they blatantly say it, so how can you say race isn’t a factor in
voting?” said Fitch, who is white, in the 6 a.m. chill of a long line curling
outside of the “GMA” broadcast site.
On the flip side, Fitch, a registered Republican there to see McCain,
supposed that some whites were planning to vote for McCain to avoid
electing a black man as president.
“I think you will see a little bit of that, but a lot of it is overcompensation
for the fact … that black voters are going out and doing that. But I think
“Obama did not make it about
race, and that is why he won.”
–Bill Binning, YSU poli-sci professor
it’s more prominent, probably, in the ethnic voters than it is in the white
voters, only because they are the ethnic race,” she said.
To Fitch, the only voting motive should be platform issues.
While the majority of those interviewed agreed with Fitch that issues
ought to be the overriding factor, several said it was OK to factor in race,
gender and likeability, if voters wanted to feel represented. In other
words, why women might support Clinton or Palin, why war veterans
might support McCain or why minorities might support Obama.
While waiting in line for “Good Morning America,” YSU student and
McCain supporter Christa Parks recounted a pre-election encounter
where she experienced intolerance from a classmate. She said the
“ethnic” person yelled at her, incensed that she planned to vote for
McCain, and demanding why.
“I’m conservative; I’m from the country; my dad hunts; my boyfriend
[is] in the Marine Corps. — he’s going to be going to Afghanistan this
coming year before the summer’s over. I’d feel a lot more comfortable
with John McCain in office while he’s over there … seeing that he’s had
experience, whereas Obama wants to pull everybody out. My boyfriend
has just gotten back from Iraq, and he said there’s no way that we’re ever
gonna be completely out of there, unless they start coming over here,”
Parks said.
In turn, the reasons Parks’ classmate gave for supporting Obama
were, in Parks’ eyes, insufficient.
“‘I’m voting for Obama because he’s black, and if McCain gets
elected I’m gonna go back to Africa,’” Parks quoted her classmate
as saying, “that, and that he agreed with the taxes Obama was gonna
impose.”
“And he didn’t have any other argument, and he was just completely
yelling at me for voting for McCain because he was white, and he called
me several names for that,” she said, laughing uncomfortably, with a
wounded look in her eyes and an insulted look on her face.
Parks is confident that this encounter shows a Youngstown trend of
racial voting.
Does she see something wrong with that?
Drawing a breath as if to choke back a sigh, Parks settled on the
answer, “You should look at the actual candidates — how they feel about
issues as opposed to what color they are ...” she stumbled off.
Conservatives Parks and Fitch stood by their belief that minority
Obama supporters were supporting him because he shared their race.
Their Republican ideals simply really aligned with those of McCain, who
happens to be white.
Inside Beeghly Center, Fleisher’s eldest son, Darnell Jones, was
bashful but proud about protesting McCain and voting for the first time.
The 18-year-old Chaney High senior knew why he was planning to vote
for Obama, and it wasn’t because of the color of the politician’s skin, a
few shades lighter than Jones’.
“I’m voting for Barack Obama because I’m just lookin’ for change, in
our schools, our jobs. [I] wanna better the future, for my future, my kids’
future — just want to help look out for my little brothers as they [are]
growing up [so] that they won’t have it so hard,” said Jones, four of his
siblings standing close by.
If Obama can solidify his promise of change to young voters like
Jones, they may become the force behind an end to America’s long
Republican run, professor Binning says. And while for some voters race
mattered against Obama’s favor, his promise to heal economic wounds is
what prevailed in his election, however historic.
“Obama did not make it about race, and that is why he won,” said Binning.*
11
 murdered. In her junior year, one
of her classmates was shot in the
head. Another classmate was killed
and thrown in the trunk of a car.
Despite the danger she faced,
the Yo’ native wouldn’t change her
upbringing, which she describes in
her new book, “The Bitch Switch,”
as an education in “the school of
hard knocks.”
“I’m a strong tell-it like-it-is,
don’t-take-no-for-an-answer kind of
girl. And I would not have been that
way had it not been for growing up
in Youngstown,” she says.
While the Yo’s crime has
Omarosa Manigault Stallworth
spawned the term “Youngstown
Learning to talk Tune-Up” and won the city the titles
Murdertown, USA and “the armpit of
tough the state,” celebrities like Omarosa,
I
Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini and Ed
t was a late walk home when O’Neill have used their hometown’s
grit to fuel their own powerful
Omarosa ran into some
girls looking to pick a fight. personas.
Though her life in Youngstown
Counting five of them and one
often included trips to her uncle’s
of her, the future reality show
farm, it’s the city’s intimidating
diva quickly realized that talking
rather than fighting was her way out. image that’s stuck to Omarosa.
“Oh, that explains why you’re so
“Really, is this going to solve
anything?” she asked her enemies, tough,” they’d say of the girl who
grew up in the former West Lake
refusing to show the fear she knew
projects.
they craved.
Before the cameras started This was a persona that landed
rolling, before the Donald, Omarosa
Manigault Stallworth was already a
negotiator. More often than not, she
talked her way out of becoming a
statistic.
While attending The Rayen High
School from 1992 to 1996, about
20 of Omarosa’s classmates were
Illustration by Sarah Sole and Richard Louis
Boccia, photos courtesy of the subjects
How growing up in the city of grit made these celebrities strong
12
her two trash-talking spots on
reality show “The Apprentice,”
where she soon attained a pop
culture status of the sort that is
forever immortalized on YouTube.
“I did not play the girl next door
for sure on that show,” she admits.
For her book, the reality show
star put the straight-talking
negotiating skills that she honed
in the Yo’ to work in writing and
marketing.
Standing up and
punching back
When former boxer Ray “Boom
Boom” Mancini was a young child in
the Yo’, the steel mills were thriving.
While he admired the blue-collar
blood that ran in his family, he
knew from 5 years old that he didn’t
fit that mold. He never thought
of another future except that of a
fighter.
By the time Mancini achieved
professional lightweight boxing
status in 1978, Youngstown was in a
shabby state, its abandoned steel
mills blemishes in a decaying town.
Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini
In the early ’80s, unemployment
was high, and as Mancini puts it,
“the town was on its ass.” People
were looking for something to hold
onto and Mancini became their guy.
“My style was emblematic of the
city,” Mancini explains. “Take a few
shots, but I’m gonna give you more
shots than I take.”
The people back home lived
vicariously through Boom Boom as
he fought his way around the world.
That support from the Yo’ was a
large part of his success.
“The people helped carry me a
By Sarah Sole
lot further than my body wanted to
go sometimes,” he says.
While Mancini was achieving
fame, holding the World
Boxing Association lightweight
championship for two years, the
condition of his city better matched
that of his beaten opponents.
“The stigma was that we were a
town that ... didn’t know how to get
back up,” he says.
Even now, stereotypes still
stand. When Mancini mentions
Youngstown, comments of “Oh,
that’s a rough area,” follow. Still, the
fighter remains fiercely loyal to his
hometown.
“We’re survivors in Youngstown.
We’ll always survive,” he says.
Laughing in the
face of crime
Ed O’Neill admits that the Yo’
was not the easiest place to make
a living, but it was a good place
to get away with a crime. The Yo’
often lived up to its nickname of
Mobtown, USA.
“There was nothing you couldn’t
do and get away with if you knew
the right people,” O’Neill says.
Only by leaving the north side
of Youngstown, where he spent his
teenage years, did O’Neill realize
it was possible to get in trouble
for a crime. There were no DUIs in
the Yo’ when he was young. O’Neill
knew people who shot others in
bars and got away with it — the
city would move the charge down
to manslaughter and eventually, it
would be completely forgotten. A
priest he knew was a bagman for a
gangster.
“You kind of get a thick skin,”
O’Neill says.
The actor later made his fortune
on a 10-year run playing Al
Bundy on show “Married ... with
Children,” indirectly channeling
the pessimism that permeated
Youngstown in his youth.
His Al Bundy character on the
show was based on his uncle Joe’s
self-deprecating humor. This sort of
negative expectation that Joe had
was evident in the locals based on
what they saw every day.
Bundy representated people
who, as O’Neill puts it, were “just
keeping their heads above water.”
While his character was a blue-
collar caricature, O’Neill admits that
the Yo’ has always been similarly
stereotyped.
The city itself may soon capitalize
on its gritty image, though less
overtly.
Ed O’Neill
You can’t market grittiness —
rather, people attuned to that
atmosphere want to discover it
on their own as an escape from
smothering commercialism. This is
Phil Kidd’s theory, one that got him
a job as Youngstown city director of
events and marketing. He became
the Yo’s mouthpiece by creating the
Defend Youngstown movement, and embrace what it has rather than
has found an example for the Yo’ to
follow.
Enter Braddock, Pa., a city of
2,500 that lost nearly 90 percent
of its population when steel towns
rusted over. The city’s creative
rebirth started when it elected a
gritty mayor who resembles a biker. their hometown.
Braddock’s political leader sports
tattoos on his arms with the dates
and zip codes of every homicide
that happened during his time in
office.
The city’s Web site carries
the same distressed aesthetic,
boasting an unofficial name
change for the city — “Braddocc”
— and a shout-out to creative class
members everywhere. There’s also
a page called “Ruins” that features
pictures of abandoned buildings,
hauntingly beautiful in their decay.
Braddock also put its
abandoned spaces to creative
use. An outdoor brick oven sits
on their main street with a blast
furnace as a backdrop. The practice
is something Kidd thinks could be
replicated in Youngstown, and the
city may already have a parallel:
an abandoned church now has
independent films shown on its
altar.
With Braddock embracing its
tough image and finding ways to
make do, Kidd sees that the Yo’ can
striving to get a Starbucks, Bed Bath
& Beyond and white picket fences.
“You don’t want McCitizen living
in McCity,” he explains.
Youngstowners know their scars
well. They appreciate the fight here,
he says, and remain fiercely loyal to
The Yo’s future, according to Kidd?
“It’s attracting people who
create versus people who want to
consume,” he says. *
Read more about Kidd and how he
sees Youngstown bouncing back on
page 23.
13
C
hristian music has come
a long way from the
days of DC Talk’s song
“Jesus Freak.” Christian
bands today often write
their songs while subtly hinting to
their religion.
Family Force 5, previously known
as “The Phamily” is proud to be
part of the transition.
“There is a major revolution
taking place in this thing that we
call ‘Christian music,’ and Family
Force 5 is honored to be a part of
it,” said guitarist Derek Mount, who
is better known by his stage name
“Chap Stique.”
Family Force 5, or simply FF5,
consists of Solomon “Soul Glow
Activatur” Olds, Jacob “Crouton”
Olds, Joshua “Fatty” Olds, Derek
“Chap Stique” Mount, and Nathan
“Nadaddy” Currin.
Being in a Christian band often
comes with the territory of having a
squeaky-clean reputation.
Drugs and alcohol have become
increasingly popular vices for
bands that need inspiration. Kenny
Vasoli, formerly of the band “The
Startling Line,” has stated in several
interviews that he writes his best
music when he is high. For Family
Force 5, being a Christian band in a
mainstream world is important and
exciting.
Drummer and backup vocalist
Jacob Olds, said, “I think it’s
important for Christian bands
to be in the mainstream media.
We feel like if we only played in
churches we would not be able to
get our message out. Sometimes
as Christians we need to play at
bars so that everyone can at least
hear about our message and our
religion.” Mount also added that if
they limited themselves to churches
they would be missing out on a lot.
Touring life has exhausted other
bands, and in some cases it has
caused bands to lose members
or break up. For the members of
Family Force 5, it may be even
harder due to the fact that three of
the members are brothers.
For Olds, touring with his family
means having a great time with his
best friends. “Sometimes it’s hard,
but you definitely learn how to
tolerate each other and you always
have your family with you when you
need it,” he said.
Mount also has had some
great experiences while touring.
“It’s incredible. We’ve met great
bands and we have made some
great friends in the process. Our
Christian views are never put out
for people to make jokes at, and
there is never any peer pressure
when we hang out with the other
bands,” he said.
Humor is a big inspiration for
the band. Mount said he likes to do
crazy, random things to get himself
in his happy place.
“I like to watch crazy videos that
put me in a good mood. Lately I
have been watching the Star Wars
Holiday Special to get a good laugh
and it always puts me in a good
mood,” said Mount. “On a more
serious level, though, sometimes I
just like to escape and maybe dress
like an alien.”
Olds, like most other band
members, often cites the fans as
his source of inspiration. “I believe
that the kids are the root of our
inspiration; they come to see FF5
for the experience. They know
it’s not going to be a typical show
where we just stand around and
play music, but what they are going
to get is a good time and a lot of
booty shakin.’”
For a Christian band, faith is
something that is important to each
member. FF5 looks at their faith as
the glue that holds them together.
“We are just normal people.
We are going to make mistakes
regardless of what happens. That’s
the beauty of faith in that when
something bad happens, you know
you can and will be forgiven. Our
faith leads us and because of it we
want everyone in this band to do
well in all aspects of their life,” said
Mount.*

Story and photograph by They’re mainstream.

Sam Marhulik They perform at bars.
Welcome to the
Christian rock
revolution.

14 theyomag.com

lonely
performance
Baring their skin
but not their souls,
these dancers have
their reasons to
keep men coming
back for more.
By Jessica Woods
Illustrations by Kristy Chen
fall 2008
H
er eyes are her
most bewitching
feature. Golden-
green, witchy
and glittering.
They lure,
entrance. She speaks volumes
through them but few are smart
enough to listen and see the
calculating hate behind them.
She walks through the
dark, gently avoiding chairs
and customers. The strobes
frequently hit her lips, eyes, and
shiny black hair. People say,
“that’s Maria.” And she keeps up
the pretense. Never let them see
you down.
Always smiling. Always
captivating.
She stares at the wall while he
gratuitously palms her hips, as
though $220 is justification for
his actions. He grabs her head
and tries to suck her earlobe.
She smells onions, alcohol,
cigars and sweat. It takes all
her willpower to stay put, keep
dancing, feign the moment, not
hit him and cry and yell and
vomit.
And he isn’t even the worst
one.
Not just anybody can be
a dancer, an entertainer, or
an enchantress. Anyone can
take their clothes off on stage,
bounce their ass and spread
their legs. It takes an artist to
keep them coming back, to keep
them enthralled. And the energy
it expends is maddening.
This is just a taste of their
world. Not even a glimpse, but
more like a cinematic snapshot
on a continuous reel that has
taken over their lives and
perpetuates the self-loathing,
the hate and disgust, the
contempt and the insanity.
The few of them who hold it
all together without drugs, who
keep their kids in nice clothes,
who buy patio sets to entertain
friends, who shop for Steve
Madden shoes and get their
nails done are a rare breed.
Ariel, blond and curvy who
returns home to her husband
and little boy Tori, who loves her
daughter but is compulsively
15
drawn to black, thuggish types.
She is gorgeous, all dark hair
and high cheekbones and
toned legs from running track
in high school. She goes home
Maybe one
to her drug-dealing boyfriends.
Maybe that’s all she thinks
day I can like
she deserves after five
years in the business.
myself again.
“My head absolutely
aches and I have
stomach pain all
the time, from the
drinking, mostly,
but also the late
nights and lack of
sleep. My wallet is
usually fat and so that’s
what I have to show for it. It is
positively addicting. The rush
of going home with four, five,
six hundred dollars per night,
stuffed in my red lace Victoria’s
Secret bra, trading in the eight-
inch heels for another night,”
sighs Maria, dragging
deeply on her Marlboro.

T
hese are the entertainers
of Tiffany Dolls Cabaret in
North Lima, Ohio. They do
not like to be called strippers.
Some of them have been
dancing for years. And they are
wildly successful.
But what their clients do
not know is that they are also
students. And their peers and
professors do not know they
dance.
“It’s definitely a double life.
It’s an interesting dichotomy to
be all these personas wrapped
into one package. A mother, a
girlfriend, a student, and then
you come here on the weekend
and have to turn it all off and be
something completely different,
a fantasy that you don’t always
Is this what I’m worth? Is this what I am?
about having money to spend
than supporting a family or
paying student loans.
She perks up, counting her
money. She has just worked “day
shift” from about 1 p.m. to 8 p.m.
“I made 400 dollars today,” she
brags, orthodontia glistening
under the fluorescent lights of
the dressing room, flashing her
Cheshire-cat grin.
But so empty inside.
Naomi flies around the pole,
moves akin to something from
None of these girls can
perform at maximum capacity,
act, deceive or hustle without
help from a little something.
She defies gravity, hanging
from one shapely thigh, or
spinning upward, blond hair
whipping around her face to the
sounds of raucous applause or
catcalls.
Her feats and style are worth
much more than the five or eight
dollars she collects from the
floor, and they all know it.
away,” Maria said, humiliation
evident on her face. “This one
time on stage, there were a
bunch of guys, a bachelor party,
I think, all sitting together. I
remember it was an Ohio State
game night and they were all
wearing jerseys. The Bucks lost,
and I guess this one guy felt
compelled to belittle strippers
as consolation. I remember
crawling over to him, sexy-like,
his friends were sort of cheering,
but he started shaking his head

feel like playing,” said Maria,
24, a Spanish student and single
mother who has been dancing
for 18 months.
But they aren’t all single
moms. Jayden has just turned
19 and still wears braces on her
teeth, a feature that can both
work with her or against her.
She waits tables in Boardman at
Buffalo Wild Wings and majors
in business at Youngstown State
University. Her dancing is more
16
Cirque du Soleil. Her body has
been likened to Shakira, itty-
bitty waist and large, lush hips
and thighs. She is an English
major, 28, and has been in the
business for seven years.
She is articulate and well-
spoken, with a penchant for
consuming large amounts of
white wine and champagne,
vices to turn off her student’s
brain and see her through a
successful night.
A
fter a while, a dancer isn’t
able to turn it off just as
well, and begins to judge
her self-worth by how much
money she makes a night. With
the economy on a downturn, no
one feels it as much as a dancer.
Their money comes only from
how much a man is willing to
part with on a particular night,
and men are fickle creatures.
There are no paychecks here.
“I’ve had men pay me to go
and tossed a dollar on the stage
and was like, ‘yeah, okay, I see
you, that’s great, go away.’ I had
about two minutes of a song left
but I was so stunned I just walked
off. I barely made it to the back
before the tears came. Is this
what I’m worth? Is this what I
am? We all have these moments.
But they hurt. And sometimes
the bad outweighs the good
moments, at least where self-
esteem is concerned.”
theyomag.com
D
ancers are battling living,” she said, “but he doesn’t “I can’t wait until the day to feel some element of respect
stereotypes and work and hasn’t for years.” I leave this all behind,” said for myself, to assuage the guilt
boyfriends, and it is very The underlying theme with Maria, unplugging her curling and shame that comes with
easy to feel alone in this industry. many dancers is their isolation, iron. Her black hair hangs in the territory of the industry, at
Naomi has had a boyfriend for despite the camaraderie of the her face and catches on her least for some girls. But when
five years. “It is definitely harder girls. Though they are constantly lip gloss. She slips into Guess I go home, I don’t want to be
to find dates. Men are reluctant. being touched, hounded for stilettos and grabs her keys. touched. I’m touched-out. I’m
They see you as immoral, or dates and pressured for “more,” “I can’t wait to have a normal sexed-out, tired of always being
inadequate,” she said. She and their loneliness is evident in life with a job I can be proud this erotic creature who exists
her boyfriend have had “trust their eyes at the end of the of, a home I own and leave the only to satisfy. Maybe one day
issues” but they’ve reached night as they change back into past where it belongs. Maybe I can like myself again. Be the
a “compromise” and he is their “street clothes” and pack meet someone I can hold onto, woman I want my daughter to
“supportive” now, she added. the six or eight-inch stilettos someone who will actually emulate.”
When asked if she feels and sequined gowns into their love me back. That’s been the But for now, there is money.
trapped in the world of dancing, lockers. hardest thing, for me, is trying And that will have to do.*
she said, “I don’t ever feel
trapped. I can have the lifestyle
I want and can still go to school,
whereas with any other job, I
couldn’t. And by lifestyle, I mean
being comfortable, having a
car that runs, eating something
besides hot dogs and Ramen
noodles.”
She said she saw dancing as When I go home, I don’t
“an opportunity I gave a chance
and ended up being successful want to be touched.
at.” She said she has no plans to
“retire” as the girls call it, but I’m touched out.
rather, “I’m happy to do it as
long as I can.”
Naomi has no children and
plans to be an English professor
and earn her master’s degree.
Santana is long, lean and
stunning. She is all finely-tuned
legs and sharp angles, with
cheekbones that could cut glass.
Looking at her, one would never
guess she has two girls under
the age of four.
She dances to rap or R&B,
her mahogany hair and endless
legs luring men to the stage. She
reminisces over nights where
she and Tori used to make “two
or three grand” and “over one
hundred thousand a year,” but
have nothing to show for it now.
“We spent it all, buying clothes,
cars, going out to eat every
day, it was ridiculous,” she said,
laughing. She is finishing school
to be a dental hygienist and has
worked in the business off and
on for five years.
She and her children’s father
have a volatile relationship, one
that is on-again off-again with
serious downs all the while. “It
doesn’t help that I do this for a
fall 2008 17
 Yo’- i n s p i re d a r t
n g s t ow n ’s s
Ar tists tell You
By Samantha Pysher
In a back room of an art studio on Federal Plaza,
Youngstown artist Ray Simon is hard at work. With a steady
and sure hand, he carefully cuts a black matboard frame
with an X-acto knife and places it atop one of his many
prints, which have been seen by everyone from President
Bush to Katie Couric. Simon’s inspiration is simple —
growing up in Youngstown.
“Our paintings are everywhere,” said Simon proudly.
“Every year, the president passes out my paintings at the
police memorial in Washington, D.C.”
Simon has made prints from a Kelly Pavlik tribute to an
“Operation Iraqi Freedom” print that features the toppling
of Saddam Hussein’s statue, a little Iraqi girl waving an
American flag, a jet and a group of soldiers and tanks.
With the Pavlik “Forged in Fire, Iron, and Steel,”
tribute painting, Simon said he wanted to replicate the
environment that Pavlik grew up in.
“I wanted to show the tough roots of Youngstown,” said
Simon, who has worked out of his Federal Plaza studio
since 1989.
One year, Simon said he got the surprise of a lifetime
when he received an e-mail from one of President
Bush’s agents explaining that Bush wanted the “Fields of
Freedom” painting for the White House.
“Fields of Freedom,” one of Simon’s favorite paintings,
shows an eagle with a light red, white and blue eye flying
over a field that has a lightly airbrushed flag flowing
over it.
All of his hard work takes time, though. Simon
18
t o r y
carefully researches the basis of the painting, such as the
history behind the story and a four-week airbrushing
frenzy begins.
“All of my artwork has a reason,” Simon said humbly.
“We love to tell stories with paintings.”
Youngstown artist Bob Barko Jr. also draws inspiration
from the Yo’.
“I get so mad when people say bad things about
Youngstown,” Barko said. “The truth is that we have a great
place, and I want to show that.”
One of Barko’s most recent creations, a brightly painted
traveling mural 24 feet wide by 6 feet tall called “Here in
Simon Youngstown,” depicts a visual history of Youngstown, from
Idora Park to the the Chevrolet Centre. The mural took
over 100 hours to complete.
“I designed the traveling mural to a scale that could be
produced onto a building,” Barko said.
Although he didn’t major in art, Barko found a way to
leave his signature on YSU turf. Though it took him 10
years, he painted every single fire hydrant to look like a
penguin.
Recollecting his past prints, and leaning back in a 1950s
style office chair, Barko said he released his first print,
“Youngstown Skyline,” in 1996.
Diligently drawing with colored pencil and ink for his
Barko smaller prints and paint for murals, Barko spends 20 hours
on average per piece after extensive research.
“The people that live here have a great nostalgia for the
city,” said Barko, “and we have a great history.” *
theyomag.com
 blurring gender roles
Youngstown residents redefine stereotypes
Alyson Cadman, karate instructor, does forms at the Las Vegas Spring Nationals in February 2008. She placed third in the that part of the competition.
shooting down
stereotypes
A
shley Bechtel knows a lot more
women who would rather save
Bambi than shoot him. to,” Bechtel said, adding that, in addition
Nonetheless, the latter better
describes this YSU freshman
and accounting major, who has participated
in whitetail deer hunting for around three or
four years.
So what inspired this otherwise traditional
female to take up a sport so dominated by
males? While growing up, Bechtel’s best
friend’s parents were big hunters who took
her and her friend to a hunter’s safety course.
Through shooting their crossbow and her
grandfather’s guns, Bechtel discovered she
really enjoyed target practice. And later,
By Emmalee Torisk
upon meeting her fiance, Eric, Bechtel really
got into hunting and went out in the woods
for the very first time. The experience was
transformational, and Bechtel loved it.
“I like being outside and seeing and
hearing all of the things that you normally
wouldn’t get a chance to see or pay attention
to deer, she’s seen foxes and coyotes while
hunting in southeastern Ashtabula County.
“It might seem like it would be boring,
but you’re constantly on edge when you’re
hunting. You have to be aware of everything
that is going on around you — every sound
and every movement. There is nothing more
exciting for me than having a buck come
within range and getting a shot at him.”
Like Bechtel, other Youngstown-area
men and women are breaking free from the
traditional restraints of their gender and
reinterpreting what exactly it means to be a
Photo courtesy of Alyson Cadman
member of their sex. They’ve metaphorically
gone back to the drawing board to rewrite
the roles and identities of both males and
females, but are also disassembling old,
dying and outdated stereotypes, some they
feel never really made sense in the first
place.
Bechtel’s passion for such an unlikely
feminine pursuit is what differentiates her
from many of her gender. According to
Bechtel, although her guy friends don’t really
have a problem with her hobby and her male
family members find it “kind of neat,” her girl
friends think that it’s amusing, to say the least,
but don’t really get it.
Additionally, her female family members
joke and kid around with her about such a
nontraditional pastime, but Bechtel readily
admits that everyone supports her hunting.
Perhaps this is because of the attitude of her
small hometown of Andover where hunting
19

Jamie Beyerle competed in the Beijing Games on the U.S. shooting team in the
Women’s 3 Position Rifle competition June in Colorado Springs, Colo.
is just a part of life, Bechtel said, trip is a prime example of this.
remembering days off school on
the first day of gun season.
“If I was from somewhere that
hunting wasn’t so important to
everyone, then people probably
wouldn’t accept me as a female
hunter so much,” Bechtel said. “It’s
kind of expected of males from my
town to be hunters. People would
probably find it odder if I was
a male who never went hunting
rather than a female who does hunt. husband, Bechtel said, adding that
Everyone seems to support me, so
it’s never been a big deal being a
female in a male sport.”
Still, people usually seem
surprised when they find out she’s
a hunter, said Bechtel, who notes
that women usually seem more
surprised than men. Some don’t
even believe it when she first tells
them about her hobby, and Bechtel
also admits that it is common for
people to adhere to time-worn
stereotypes, whether they do it
consciously or not.
A Gander Mountain shopping
“When you do actually get a
deer, there is nothing more
exciting. Plus, it’s pretty cool to
be a girl and get a bigger buck
than a lot of other guys for the
season.” — Ashley Bechtel
20
percent since 2001. This number is
increasing every year. Additionally,
the survey found that women ages
18 to 24 represent the fastest-
growing group of female hunters
and shooters.
Despite feeling that it has
become more acceptable for
women to take up hunting today,
Bechtel acknowledges that men
do have some advantages within
the sport. For instance, Bechtel
Photo by Mark Reis/Colorado Springs Gazette/MCT
said men have more strength in
dragging deer out of the woods.
Also, men would likely have
an easier time actually gutting
the deer, something Bechtel
“definitely” doesn’t like to do.
Additionally, Bechtel usually
wears a lot of layers under her
camouflage while hunting because
she gets cold easily, and sometimes
has problems finding good gloves
that are small enough. Bechtel
can’t use a compound bow
because she is not strong enough
Although looking for something for to pull it back, and said it’s also
her bow, the salesman “pretty much more difficult for women to prepare
for hunting since everyone, both
ignored” her and spoke mostly to
her fiance, who actually wasn’t even males and females, should wash
with special scent-free soap and
trying to buy anything for himself.
shampoo. This, at least for Bechtel,
Even so, Bechtel just laughed the
experience off and said she doesn’t eliminates good conditioners and
styling products, resulting in “hair
blame the salesman. If she were
that goes nuts.”
a saleswoman in a kitchen store,
Crazy hair and too-big gloves
she would obviously try to make
aside, that’s really it. Bechtel
the sale to the woman, and not her
says she has just as good of an
aim as other men and proudly
if she was that bothered by being
noted that she has even been
one of the few women in a male
a more successful hunter than
sport, she probably never would
some men she knows. Although
have even began hunting.
she completely understands the
Although female hunters are
reasons for hunting being a more
still in a clear minority, they are
masculine pursuit, Bechtel thinks
no longer a complete oddity,
it’s worth it, regardless of gender.
according to recent statistics.
“You have to sit in the cold,
This leads many to believe the
sometimes rain or snow, with the
portrait of the typical hunter is
possibility of not even seeing a
changing. In fact, according to a
deer. I don’t blame a lot of women
survey conducted by the National
for not wanting to do that,” Bechtel
Sporting Goods Association,
said. “However, I would definitely
2.4 million women hunted with
encourage other women to give
firearms in 2005, an increase of 72
hunting a shot. I know that it sounds
boring and uncomfortable, but I
can honestly say that when you do
actually get a deer, there is nothing
more exciting. Plus, it’s pretty cool
to be a girl and get a bigger buck
than a lot of other guys for the
season.”
reinventing
a craft
This idea of gender role
reinterpretation also applies to a
most basic and traditional craft:
knitting. By taking a once very
domestic pursuit, loaded with
gender specificity, and turning it
into a structural form of art, YSU
catalog librarian Kevin Whitfield
not only breaks the stereotypes of
the craft, but also that of knitters.
Originally hailing from Canada,
Whitfield is a man who has knitted
for nearly 20 years. He has a
background and degree in art and he
knits and exhibits highly-sculptural
textile art objects that bring knitting
far beyond the production of
garments. Some of his most recent
pieces, shown in Maag Library at
this year’s university-hosted Summer
Festival of the Arts, are actually knit
suits — a combination of body and
garment — that join true-to-life
personal histories with actual figural
representations.
According to Whitfield, these
pieces (regarded as a veritable
“second skin”) both represent
identity, gender and the possible
blurring of lines between
masculinity and femininity. Although
his “skins” possess elements of both
genders, they were created through
a traditionally feminine art. In this
way, an “interchangeability between
sexes” exists — the switch is “as
simple as putting on a new suit,”
Whitfield said.
Despite using knitting to
primarily create art pieces,
Whitfield began knitting basic
items like sweaters and mittens
soon after his sister taught him
the elementary steps of the craft.
He became “hooked” on knitting.
However, Whitfield eventually
began to notice something
intriguing about his work.
“My knitted items began to
suggest body parts,” Whitfield
said, as he leaned forward over his
desk in Maag Library. “A sweater
resembled a torso, while a glove
looked like a hand. Even cabling
was like muscle or bone structure.
This led to my reinterpretation of
knitting to create figurative items. I
wanted to expand knitting and make
things people didn’t expect to see.”
It was in Japan in the early ’90s
that Whitfield began knitting
theyomag.com
figures and rethinking knitting as
an actual art form. While living
there, Whitfield observed the
significance of fiber, especially silk
and more crude elements like rice
stems, in the Eastern art world.
He managed to translate these
ideals and influences into a more
Western interpretation. This began
as the churning out of numerous
knit body parts that actual garments
suggested, including a male torso
of jute, but eventually evolved
into the creation of complete knit
figures representing the entire
body.
Now, guided by these concepts,
much of this contemporary artist’s
work questions the permanence of
identity, including sexual identity,
by taking the personal histories
and thoughts of his subjects and
rendering them and their stories
into knit sculptures that represent
each subject’s individual body.
The words Whitfield embroiders
or knits into the garment have dual
meanings: first, they stand for the
“things people had to say about
themselves and their lives,” he said.
Second, they represent the degree
of insignificance words have on the
vast majority of current, machine-
manufactured clothing.
“In this way, I could exhibit
people’s stories and take it a
step further by actually knitting
their body,” Whitfield said. “Each
garment is the size of that person’s
body with the words they said.
They’re not necessarily as pleasant
as I would have liked, but I was true
to them [in my work].”
Whitfield’s work throughout
the years has earned him much
acclaim, both in the country, at the
Butler Institute of American Art and
the Museum of Contemporary Craft,
and abroad in Canada and Japan,
where he won a prize.
Through his passion for and
reinvention of the craft of knitting,
Whitfield has elevated from an
almost necessary, utilitarian act to
an art form.
Whitfield, however, is just one
of a plethora of knitters working
to distort the traditional face of
knitting. He named artists who,
instead of knitting socks and
sweaters, are creating knit plates
and teacups, knit weaponry —
including guns and landmines
— and knit cozies for everything
from houses to tanks. Additionally,
other knitters are basing sweaters
on mathematical formulas, while
fall 2008
some integrate DNA patterns into They range from absolute between the years of 2002 and
otherwise traditional scarves. In this fascination to complete hostility, but 2004, the number of women knitters
way, knitting has become an almost what are you going to do? There are in the USA increased 150 percent.
infinite and limitless medium. going to be people who love what “Knitting has been in decline for
“Knitting is so versatile that you do and those who dislike it,” a very long time,” said Whitfield.
you can do anything you want to,” Whitfield said. “Most everything in the art world
Whitfield said. “Both females and According to the Craft Yarn has its ebbs and flows, but knitting
males can interpret knitting in any Council of America, an industry will always have its place. It will
way. It depends upon the individual. group that does knitting trend never fade out completely because
There are no gender restrictions to research, the number of men there will always be die-hards like
it, at least to the individual. Society who knit has increased to myself.”
teaches us to behave according approximately 2.6 million from 1.5
to certain restrictions, but we can million. This makes male knitters
Reclaiming
“Society teaches us to a role
behave according to certain
Just as knitting was once a manly
restrictions, but we can cross art, so was cheerleading; lately, this
those boundaries as we see fit.” has lead some male cheerleaders
to — surprisingly enough — return
— Kevin Whitfield to their roots. The first cheerleader,
in 1898 at a University of Minnesota
football game, was a man.
Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower
and George W. Bush were male
cheerleaders and each were
cross those boundaries as we see about five percent of the entire deemed by the collegiate crowd as
fit.” knitting population. Additionally, future “Most Likely to Succeed.”
Despite the feminine label
knitting has developed over the
years, this belief is just a construct.
It was only during the 19th century
and the advent of the Industrial
Revolution that knitting became
associated with women who found
themselves with additional leisure
time. Prior to that, knitting was
started by and belonged to men.
And now, in spite of its gender
stereotypes, men — including
Whitfield — are taking knitting
back.
Modern knitters are an
interesting bunch, coming from
all ages, all walks of life and both
genders. Whitfield attributed this to
the idea that perhaps knitting is not
at all a gender-specific activity, and
cited the existence of a “gender
spectrum or continuum.” On this
continuum, Whitfield said, everyone
is made up of both masculine and
feminine traits, but some people
Photo Courtesy of Jeneane Crago
are further on certain sides of the
spectrum than others. Additionally,
Whitfield acknowledged a lack of
exposure to males in the knitting
world, but also mentioned that
in Canada, when men do knit, it
is rather “normal and accepted.”
Interestingly enough, while knitting
in public, Whitfield has received
many positive — and some
negative — reactions.
“Sometimes I knit in public to YSU cheerleader Scott Rouan performs a shoulder sit with partner Jeneane
deliberately provoke a response. Crago during a Fall 2008 football game.
21
 Regardless, World War II
depleted American universities of
many young men, and it was then
that cheerleading became almost
exclusively a feminine domain, and
the image of the pert, perky and
popular female cheerleader who
rarely, if ever, exhibited any athletic said.
skills was born.
All of this was long before
cheerleading became the highly
athleticized, gymnastics-based
sport it is today. Contemporary
cheerleading is a far cry from what
it once was in the decades past;
cheerleaders today build human
pyramids, throw their teammates
through the air and balance other
cheerleaders on their legs, arms
and shoulders. Cheerleading
today is definitely about strength,
which is a characteristic YSU male
cheerleader Scott Rouan believes
is absolutely necessary for all
cheerleaders.
Rouan, a junior chemical
engineering major, is originally
from Mineral Ridge and likes
listening to music and hanging out
with his friends on the weekends.
However, unlike most other
21-year-old guys, Rouan is a male
cheerleader and has been cheering physical aspects, like their strength
on the YSU Penguins for about
three and a half years. Although it’s
more common today to see men
playing on the field than cheering
on the sidelines, Rouan thinks it
is becoming more acceptable to
be a male cheerleader, especially
with depictions of them in the films
“Bring It On” and “High School
Musical.”
“When I first started, I was
incredibly nervous about my first
game. I was worried about what
people would think of me and how I
would react,” Rouan said. “However,
I was surprised at how many people
were cheering me on when I did
stunts and how everyone was
shocked when we put up pyramids.
After that day, I was much less
worried about how people would
react to my cheerleading.”
Introduced to the sport by a
step-cousin who encouraged him
to attend a cheerleading practice
a few years ago, Rouan admitted
initially his friends found it “odd”
he would try something like this.
Now, his friends come to games to
watch the Penguins and see Rouan
cheer. Additionally, Rouan said his
family, among others, has always
been supportive of his choice to
cheer.
22
“The reactions I have seen have
never been negative. It’s hard to
believe, but most people who find
out I’m a cheerleader think it’s
pretty amazing. Other reactions
have been that of neutrality or
surprise, but never insult,” Rouan
In the 20-member YSU
cheerleading squad, three
cheerleaders including Rouan are
male.
According to American
Sports Data, Inc., 97 percent of
all cheerleaders are female, but
nearly 50 percent of collegiate
cheerleaders are male. Although
the guys are outnumbered by
women, Rouan said this gender
disparity does not stop him from
having fun, although it does cause
a “lack of communication on both
sides because most of us have
nothing in common.”
Even so, since the start of his
cheering career, Rouan has been
able to see things and meet people
he never would have imagined,
but he has also gained a great
deal of strength, he said. Rouan
also noted that in the sport, men
must concentrate more on the
and height, in order to be able
to perform lifts and throws, while
women tend to focus more on
Alyson Cadman spars with another competitor during an August 2008
tournament at Slippery Rock University in Pa. She placed second in sparring.
gymnastics and technique. honors, including the title of Ohio
Typically, Rouan cheers at all State Champion in 2002, 2003, 2004
football and basketball home and 2008, and Top Ten in 2002 and
games (and some away games), 2007.
as well as at various events where Cadman is a certified instructor
the cheerleaders’ presence is at Austintown ATA Black Belt
requested. Academy through attending
Despite his hectic schedule, numerous certification clinics
Rouan said the perks of being around the world. She has been a
a cheerleader far outweigh any teacher for five years and practices
negative aspects. karate six days each week.
“You’d be surprised how fun Since starting karate, the
it is to just try something new reactions of her family and friends
sometime,” Rouan said. “I suppose haven’t changed all that much,
it’s something like gymnastics. except to perhaps realize how large
Though someone may find it odd of a role karate plays in Cadman’s
that a guy is attending a gymnastics life. Whenever anyone finds out
class, once they see what he can do, about Cadman’s passion for the
their opinion changes.” sport, the response is typically,
“Better not mess with you.”
While women don’t tend to react
Raising the bar as much, men often want proof that
she can beat them up, which, with the
Alyson Cadman, a YSU skills Cadman possesses, including
sophomore and physical therapy punching, kicking, board breaking,
major, probably felt similarly at her sparring, self defense and the use of
first karate class 12 years ago. The weapons, is very possible.
19-year-old taekwondo instructor Cadman has even inspired
from Struthers first began taking some to take up the sport as well,
karate classes at the age of seven regardless of their gender. Cadman
when her mom had a coupon. said most of the time when men
At the time, Cadman thought sign up for classes, they primarily
the sport “looked like fun.” Little want to learn how to fight; women
did she know that in the years that are more interested in self defense
followed she would earn a fourth- or physical fitness.
degree black belt and numerous “Even so, there is not much of
a difference between men and
women in this sport,” Cadman
Photo courtesy of Alyson Cadman
said. “You need to have control,
discipline and determination.
As long as you have the will to
improve, we can help anyone
develop the skills you need to be
successful in karate.”
Male or female, karate can be a
great stress reliever and workout,
but it can also test your limits,
Cadman said. Although she said
many sports probably start out as
male activities, karate is slowly
beginning to even out. In fact,
more and more girls and women
are taking classes than ever,
according to Cadman, who said the
girls’ locker room is beginning to
get too crowded. However, there
are still times when she feels as
though she’s one of a small group of
females in a male-dominated sport.
“Usually it helps me challenge
myself a little more and it makes
men realize that women can do
everything they can,” Cadman
said. “I think it’s great to be able
to have a choice; if you’re good at
something, it shouldn’t matter if
you’re a man or woman.” *
theyomag.com
 [A Yo* Diary]
Coming to America:
a dream gone bad
Immigrating to a country at social war with Arab and Muslim
cultures after 9/11 was the wrong time to come to America.
By Mariam Bshara
C
oming to the United States
was such a great relief
to me, moving from an
occupied country to the country of
freedom, from Palestine to America. United States. In the airport we had
But it wasn’t too long until I noticed to go through elaborate security. It’s became fascinated with
how wrong my expectations were,
or how much misunderstandings
turned my dream into a nightmare.
In Palestine, we got to a point
where it took us about an hour
to get to school on foot, and we
were always in danger at the
checkpoints. I got slapped once,
and when my uncle came to talk to
the soldier who hit me, he got hit on Youngstown State University.
the shoulder with the side of a gun
and injured pretty badly. We ended
up living in my uncle’s house next
to the school for about a month, and around with a gun at my side.
that was even harder. After that we
decided we were leaving.
My only thoughts of America
fall 2008
[Yo* Profile]
By Todd Mounce
W
ho would have
thought that a
guy who grew
up outside Weirton, W. Va.,
would be leading a charge
to defend Youngstown? For
were about the quality of life, lack Phil Kidd, what started out as
of racism and freedom of speech, a slogan on a sign and T-shirt
and the unmet needs of my life has turned into a movement.
in Palestine. We came here in Weirton is not that
December 2001, right after 9/11 different than Youngstown,
— the worst timing to come to the a small steel town where
Kidd’s family worked. Kidd
so hard on one to move from one Youngstown as a student
house to the other, but it was harder serving in the ROTC at
to move from a country to another. Youngstown State University
I thought that representing in the late ’90s. The Yo’s
Photo by Andrew Berry
my country and being a proud eerie infrastructure — an
Palestinian would be appreciated, apocalyptic, industrial ruin
but instead, I was spit on and — drew him back to found
cursed out for wearing my “Right Defend Youngstown as the
to Return, 1948 Palestine” shirt at grassroots compliment to
the city’s revitalization plan.
People have literally walked away Though the Yo’ was left for dead
from me after finding out I am Arabic, after the closing of the mills, Kidd Making
the case for
considering me a terrorist walking believes the city has the potential
for unique redevelopment.
I’d like to clear a few things up. “The Youngstown 2010 plan
In the Middle East there are two
main faiths, Islam and Christianity,
and in Palestine both
brought me back,” Kidd said.
“People were looking for answers,
and they didn’t know how to solve
Youngstown
religions lived together. the problems of a city in peril.”
We shared the same Criticism came with international How Phil Kidd
culture and traditions praise for the city’s efforts to get is defending the Yo’
with the exception of a back on its feet.
few rules.When it comes In 2008 Forbes named Youngstown not because they have to be. They’re
to clothes, Palestinian one the 10 fastest dying cities in here because they accept the
Christians dress just like America, and Rolling Stone has challenges but want to make a direct
women here in the United ripped into Youngstown as being difference,” says Kidd. “We are giving
States, but with a few the armpit of Ohio. people reasons to come back now.”
restrictions, like nothing “Ten years ago ... we might have Kidd served as the city’s
from under the clothes. said, ‘Oh well, another black eye for director of events and marketing
Men wear whatever they Youngstown.’ Today, because of our until recently taking a job with
like. Muslim women wear fight for change, you’re going to get the Mahoning Valley Organizing
a scarf covering their hair return fire,” Kidd said. Collaborative, which seeks to
and sometimes their faces.  “At the end of the day we don’t organize neighborhood cleanup
While the United give a shit about what a pop culture and renewal. He sounds like he’s
States is known for magazine says about Youngstown. planning to stay for good.
peace, justice, equality The opinions of national urban- “One day, I want to be sitting at
and fairness, this only policy experts speak for us.” the Royal Oaks Bar when I’m 75,
applies to its natives, Kidd took to the streets downtown, doing a shot, and I want to hear
not foreigners, in my just him and his slogan on a sign. It some young person my age say,
experience. It’s my hope didn’t take long for the idea to catch ‘How was Youngstown ever that bad?
that more Americans on. T-shirts with the slogan came I don’t understand how it ever could
try looking beyond a next, and Kidd says shirt sales have have been that bad. This is a cool
Photo Courtesy of the writer
foreign name, unfamiliar topped 10,000 worldwide. little city,’” Kidd says smiling. “If I
language or different The next step was the hear that, I’ll do my shot with a grisly
religion. By the way — I Defend Youngstown Web site, smile. I could walk out that door and
am a Roman Catholic.* which promotes Youngstown’s get hit by a bus, but I would be fine
advancement efforts. with that because I’d die knowing
“People now are here by choice, we won.”*
23
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