Red ladies be winin'

 

Inside the senator's office

 


 


Missouri Senator Kurt Schaefer.

The Graduation

Living in a college town means you're going to get a boatload of graduation assignments. It just comes with the territory. As much as I groan when I see them pop up on the calendar, I still try hard to push myself and see an annual event in a different way.

Picking up the slack

  With eyes locked on a single point, T.J. Hartsfield walks out onto the line. It shakes and sways under his feet, but instead of falling, his body moves in sync with the motion. He walks along the thin strand, suspended in air. "I just clear my mind and let my body react," T.J. says.   The sport T.J. practices at Show-Me Gymnastics on Monday evenings is called slacklining. You might see him balancing on the University of Missouri campus, in Peace Park or any number of places he feels like stretching a line. The premise is simple: You pull thin nylon webbing between two anchor points and walk across it. In practice, however, it's much more difficult. "I struggled with it at first," T.J. says. "But I felt myself improve pretty quickly, so it was kind of addicting after that."   The sport is distinct from tightrope-walking because the line is thicker and has more flexibility and movement. It's a fairly new sport, and different styles of slacklining are still emerging. T.J. has been practicing for about two years, he says. As his skills with slacklining close to the ground have increased, so have his ambitions for the sport. T.J. says he hopes to try highlining this year, which is slacklining in a harness at significant heights or above water. "I'm kind of an adrenaline junkie," he says.  Slacklining has helped T.J. in other aspects of his life: The balance he has gained has improved his whitewater kayaking, rock-climbing and yoga skills and his mental clarity. "It's both mental and physical," he says. "Once you step onto the line, you're in your own world." The benefits extend to his surroundings, as well. "I feel like it's gotten me more in touch with the outdoors," he says. "And I feel like I've had a lot of good discussions around a slackline."  At the end of the day, though, T.J. says he finds enjoyment from any sports that connect fun with something physical. "They're more entertaining than just sitting on the couch," he says.

Park

Vader

Bike Polo

A great group of people. Good fun shootin'.

The Shearing of Tinker

As Diane Peckham talks to Tinker in a soothing voice, strands of the animal's soft white fur float through the air like dandelion seeds. After a few minutes of careful grooming, and a little grunting and whining from Tinker, another alpaca is free of its winter coat. 
 Once a year, Diane and her husband, Nick, gather their herd of 35 alpacas to shear their fur. "They get so hot with all that on them," Diane says. "You can just feel the heat coming off their skin after you take the fur off." Although they might put up a bit of a fight initially, each alpaca seems happy to be bare-skinned again when it's done. 
 Diane says she first got into alpaca care because she wanted to raise some kind of farm animal. At the time, she says, there were only about 3,000 alpacas in the United States, "so it seemed like a really good bet." Diane and Nick have been raising alpacas on their farm for 24 years; they initially bred the animals and sold them. Now they mostly just use their fur to make rugs and other items. 
 Their view of alpacas has shifted somewhat over the years from the monetary to a different kind of bond with the animals. When asked whether she would ever give up taking care of the beasts, Diane pauses, smiles and says, "I don't think I could stand not looking out and seeing these gorgeous animals." 
 For Diane and Nick, the role of alpaca caretakers is something they say they will never give up. "I can't imagine being retired and not doing anything," Diane says. "Besides, it's kind of fun to shear an alpaca."