Harvest: A Late Season Visit to Fair Share Farm
Late summer sun bleaches the sky into soft cotton denim over the fields of Fair Share Farm. Head up Highway 69, race down the straights of Route MM, and ride the gentle bends until a dusty finger of gravel road beckons. This 228-acre organic farm in Kearney is just a few miles from Watkins Mill State Park. Farmers Rebecca Graff and Tom Ruggieri invited me to tour the organic farm and taste test recipes to be included in their weekly newsletter to community-supported... Read More
Candice Millard, Author of River of Doubt
The River of Doubt is the true story of Theodore Roosevelt’s daunting and deadly exploration of one of the most dangerous rivers on earth. The book recounts the last great physical challenge that Roosevelt posed for himself in the Amazon rain forest. Author Candice Millard, a former writer and editor at National Geographic who resides in Kansas City, conducted field research in the Amazon to retrace portions of Roosevelt’s journey. The River of Doubt is a black, uncharted... Read More
Jim Chappell: A Good Sport and Great Scholar
Seated at a table, Jim Chappell opens a book of poetry and begins to read in a deep baritone. His finger scans the lines like a narrow spotlight illuminating the page. His voice warms to the words and revels in the rhythm and alliteration. The periphery of the room melts away, the banter of voices and drone of a television fade, and Chappell’s table transforms into a stage. Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume... Read More
Mark Winne, Food Policy Expert
An interview with food policy expert Mark Winne, author of Closing the Food Gap. He gave a presentation called The Ugly Underbelly of the American Food System in 2008 at the Kansas City Central Library. Winne also helped KC Healthy Kids with the KC Healthy Food Policy Initiative. The Food Policy Initiative is working to educate people about the local food system and eventually start a food policy council (FPC) in the Kansas City area. KC Healthy Kids is a nonprofit, private operating... Read More
PresentMagazine.com
Past work published at PresentMagazine.com Read More Read More
Jeff Somers, Author of The Eternal Prison
An interview with author Jeff Somers about The Eternal Prison, the third book in the action-filled Avery Cates science fiction series that combines a noir detective style with a worse-for-the-wear high tech aesthetic in a dystopian future. Also, read a review of The Eternal Prison. Pete Dulin: Did you conceive of the idea for the plot of the series (The Electric Church, The Digital Plague, and The Eternal Prison) or the main character Avery Cates first? When did... Read More
Bobby Watson, Professor of Jazz
Sheet music for “Ruby, My Dear” by Thelonious Monk rests on the Steinway Piano in Bobby Watson’s office. A photograph of master drummer Michael Carvin, who played recently with Watson at The Blue Room, decorates the office located in the lower level of the performing arts center on the University of Missouri-Kansas City campus. Watson sits at his desk, wearing loose brown corduroy and a smooth mocha-colored suede shirt. Numerous mementos, awards, and other photographs attest... Read More
Cork Recycling: J. Gilbert’s, Bristol Restaurants Go Green
Small acts can have big consequences. Nearly 13 billion natural corks per year wind up in landfills. Recycling that cork, a renewable source, can add up to significant environmental benefits. Recently, J. Gilbert’s and Bristol Seafood Grill have signed on as the first Kansas City partners with ReCORK, a US-based program designed to redirect cork from landfills and repurpose them instead into practical products. Read More Read More
Zim’s Hot Sauce
Kansas City-based rock photographer (and frequent PresentMagazine.com contributor) Todd Zimmer is the man behind Zim’s Hot Sauce. Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, Zimmer grew up with Buffalo wings. Read More Read More
Justus Drugstore: Heritage and Purpose
Justus Drugstore: A Restaurant, located in Smithville, Missouri, has a lot riding on its name. Read More Read More
