BOOTS AND

BIBLES
Cowboy Church of
Virginia Saddles Up
THE MADISON
SEVEN
Students Protestors 42
Years Later
FROM CAMPUS
TO CAMPAIGN
CNN Correspondent
Jim Acosta
THE VALLEY MAGAZINE VOLUME 35, 2012
curio
JMU & THE VALLEY
Volume 35, 2012
LETTER FROM THE EDITORS
Dear Readers,
First and foremost, we want to thank all of you for your support in the production
of this publication. We are grateful for our writers, photographers and editors who
have worked to present a fresh perspective on some of the Valleys most beloved
features.
From food trucks to farming, local restaurants to refugee resettlement, we provide
readers with a glimpse of our diverse home, the Shenandoah Valley. These stories
highlight the unique people and businesses that hae come to deFne our culture. It`s
truly a shame we couldnt feature everything the Valley has to offer.
\e also ocused our attention on what we think will beneFt readers the most: the
best hiking trails, proFles o local uniersity students and alumni, sustainable eorts
in the community and new restaurants and bakeries. Lery proFle tells o someone
whose life was changed by being here, from a CNN correspondent starting out on
his path to seven JMU protesters who stood up for their rights.
1he process o producing this magazine has been challenging at times but ultimately
rewarding for our team, especially these three journalists. We would like to thank Dr.
David Wendelken, professor Brad Jenkins and professor Dietrich Maune for their
support in this process. We hope you enjoy this issue of Curio both print and
online and continue to support its production in the future.
Sincerely,
Executive Editors
Amanda Caskey
Beth Cole
Editor
Aaron Koepper
Managing Editor
Grant Beck
Articles Editor
Jordan Pye
Assistant Articles Editors
Amber Logsdon
Malissa Watterson
Art Editor
Megan Learn
Assistant Art Editor
Kelsey Hanley
Photo Editor
Brandon Payne
Assistant Photo Editor
Chrissy Skutnik
Senior Editors
Alyse DiNapoli
Eric Wagner
Zeta Dowdy
Amy Curtis
Multimedia/Web Editor
Sarah Lockwood
Advisors
David Wendelken
Brad Jenkins
ABOUT CURIO:
Curio is a regional general-
interest feature magazine
published each year by
students in the School of
Media Arts & Design at James
Madison University. Curio
is a nonproht organization
supported by the College
of Arts and Letters and the
School of Media Arts & Design.
Subscriptions are
not available.
www.
Amanda Caskey Beth Cole Aaron Koepper
BETH COLE is a senior SMAD journalism major with a minor in
communications from Mineral, Va. She has been a staff writer and a Life
Editor for The Breeze. She has worked for TASC, Inc. in Washington,
D.C., as a technical editing and multimedia intern supporting the Federal
Aviation Administration. After graduation, Beth hopes to get a job as an
editor or a writer.
ON THE COVER CHRISTIANITY MEETS THE OLD WEST
PHOTO BY BRANDON PAYNE
AMANDA CASKEY is a senior SMAD journalism and SCOM public
rolations doublo ma|or rom Smitnhold, va. Sno nas boon a sta writor
for The Breeze and editor-in-chief of The Bluestone. Amanda has held
internships at Can of Worms Publishing in London, U.K. and Alice
Marshall Public Relations in New York City. After graduation, Amanda
will work as an Assistant Account Executive for Alice Marshall.
AARON KOEPPER is a senior SMAD journalism major with a minor
in creative writing from Manassas, Va. He has been a staff writer and
a news editor for The Breeze. He has worked for the Manassas and
Manassas Park Patch reporting community news. After graduation,
Aaron will intern at Main Justice, an insider news website in Washington,
D.C. covering the Department of Justice.
P. 26
CURIO 2012 / 1
GRANT BECK
is a senior SMAD journalism major
from Richmond, Va. He has been the
managing editor for JMUs yearbook,
The Bluestone and is a member
of the JMU chapter of the Society
of Professional Journalists. After
graduation he hopes to get an editorial
job or internship in Washington, D.C.
JORDAN PYE
is a junior SMAD journalism and
political science double major from
Charlottesville, Va. She writes feature
articles for JMU department websites
and works at tno JMU Ohoo o
Community Service-Learning, helping
students arrange volunteer opportunities
witn looal nonproht agonoios. Ator
graduation she hopes to earn a masters
degree in journalism and cover politics
on Capitol Hill, although her ultimate
goal is to be an editor for Esquire
magazine.
AMBER LOGSDON
is a junior SMAD Journalism major with
a women and gender studies minor
from Virginia Beach, Va. She wrote
for The Breeze and The Bluestone.
Additionally, she is secretary for Dukes
for Choice and an intern for NARAL
Pro-Choice America. In the future, she
hopes to become an editor of books or
magazines.
MALISSA WATTERSON
is a senior SMAD journalism major
with a minor in writing and rhetoric
from Exmore, Va. She is a former staff
writer for The Breeze and has interned
for Anna Magee, a freelance health
journalist based in London, U.K. After
graduation, she will work as a staff writer
for her local newspaper, The Eastern
Shore News.
MEGAN LEARN
is a junior SMAD corporate
communication and graphic design
double major from Fairfax, Va. She has
worked as a graphic designer for JMU
Athletics Photography, Verisign Inc.,
and McLean Project for the Arts. After
graduation, Megan hopes to work her
way up to the position of art director at a
dosign hrm.
KELSEY HANLEY
is a senior SMAD major with
a concentration in Corporate
Communications from Virginia Beach,
Va. Over the summer, she held a public
relations internship at Style Events,
an event planning company based
in her hometown. After graduation,
Kelsey hopes to get an internship or job
working at a magazine or publishing
hrm.
BRANDON PAYNE
is a senior SMAD journalism major
born in Bronx, N.Y., but was raised in
Virginia. He has been a photographer
for The Breeze for two years and has
held both staff and senior positions.
Brandon started his own media
company, Scrandom Media, in 2010.
After graduation, he looks to work for a
magazine in the action sports industry
as a photographer and videographer.
CHRISSY SKUTNIK
is a senior SMAD major with a
concentration in Converged Media and
a minor in Studio Art from Westport,
Connecticut. She has interned with
tno markoting and advortising hrm
Story Worldwide outside of New York
City. She worked on Madison 101 as a
photographer and hopes to continue her
career as a photographer and graphic
designer after graduation.
SARAH LOCKWOOD
is a junior SMAD journalism major
minoring in environmental studies from
Richmond, Va. She has a dorky passion
for yearbooks, including JMUs The
Bluestone. In addition to The Bluestone,
Sarah is a member of the Society of
Professional Journalists, writes for Port
and Main and has a Little Sister through
Big Brothers Big Sisters. She has a
bonzai tree named Albert. In the future,
Sarah is interested in environmental
journalism, particularly for magazines.
STAFF BIOS
2 / CURIO 2012
TABLE OF CONTENTS
HELPING HANDS FOR LOCAL
FARMERS
Internship class makes JMU students
farmers for a semester
4
AN UNANCHORED LIFE
Campaign journey by CNN
correspondent Jim Acosta, a JMU
alumnus
GOING GLOBAL, LIVING
LOCAL
A look inside A Bowl of Good Cafs
internationally-inspired menu and
environment
LAND OF LAVENDER
White Oak Lavender Farm shows
visitors how to relax with a wide array of
products
LANGUAGE UNLOCKS NEW
LIFE
Refugee resettlement in Harrisonburg
gives immigrants a fresh start
TRIVIA MAN
Waiter turns Tuesday night event into a
Clementines tradition
6
10
14
18
24
CURIO 2012 / 3
CHRISTIANITY MEETS THE
OLD WEST
Cowboy Church of Virginia provides
alternative to traditional worship
MADISON COLLEGES FIGHT
FOR CHANGE
Student protest led to seven-year court
battle, alum look back
SWEET SPOTS
Local bakeries offer residents
homemade and unique treats
SERVING LATE NIGHT
COOKIES WITH SMILES
JMU students idea becomes a late
night favorite for students
HISTORIC HIKES OF THE
SHENENDOAH VALLEY
Lesser known hikes give a peek at the
past
EARTH CLUB:
SUSTAINABILITY IN THE
VALLEY
Student organization seeks to bring
sustainable initiatives to the Valley
DANK-U VERY MUCH
Food truck offers new option on Port
Republic
26
30
36
41
44
50
54
4 / CURIO 2012
MAKING THE TREK TO JANETS
Garden is a reminder that the Shenandoah
Valley was once the breadbasket of
the Confederacy. Vast plots of rolling
farmland, gnarled trees and old barns line
the back roads in Greenville, Va., that lead
to the small farm. Piles of compost and
chunks of asphalt surround the winding,
gravel driveway on either side. A one-story
farmhouse appears over the crest of a hill.
As visitors pull up, a sign offers a warning:
Never mind the dog. Beware of the
owner.
This sign, plastered on a front porch
crowded with Fe reezers, greets isitors
to Janets Garden that and the duet
of barks and yelps from Maxine and
Django, a pair of Australian cattle dogs.
The greeting is one that junior integrated
science and technology major Amanda
Jenkins is familiar with.
Jenkins makes the 40-minute drive south
on Interstate 81 from Harrisonburg to
Janets Garden twice a week as part of an
agricultural internship program.
ISAT 473: Local Agriculture and Farm
Internships provides between 10 and
15 students from various majors the
opportunity to do hands-on work with
local farmers in the Shenandoah Valley.
In an additional section of GEOG 350:
Topics in Geography, Professor Jennifer
Coffman co-teaches the course along with
professor Wayne Teel and came up with
the idea for an agricultural internship after
she took one of her classes on a day trip to
Llk Run larm in lort DeFance, Va.
She was pleased with the enthusiastic
response from her students.

They were really surprised with all the
vegetables growing, said Coffman. They
couldnt believe that was what asparagus
looked like in the ground.
After gauging interest in an internship
class, Coffman and Teel began building the
framework for the course. The class meets
once a week for lecture and discussion. On-
farm labor is the other major component
to the course. Students enrolled in ISAT
473 must log 110 hours, earning four
academic credits, while students taking
GEOG 350 must log 75 hours of on-farm
labor for three credits.
I want [students] to learn not just the
mechanics and ecology, but the culture of
farming, said Coffman.
Jenkins works with Janet Ripley, owner of
the namesake Janets Garden, and Andrew
Katz, a ormer Marine rom Baltimore
who has been working on the farm for the
past two years. Throughout the course of a
day on the farm, Jenkins performs various
chores, from milking cows to repairing
trellises for bramblefruit. She says these
types of tasks are her favorite part of the
internship.
I enjoy doing work, hands-on work, said
Jenkins. Im also lucky I got placed here.
I like Janet and Drew a lot.
Ripley Frst started arming 10 years ago
because her son wanted a glass of milk.
Ripley, who was a vegetarian at the time,
did not want her son drinking pasteurized
milk. Using the 48-acre plot owned by her
father, Ripley began the farm with a single
milk cow. Today, Janets Garden is home to
six Jersey milk cows and several beef cattle,
a small nock o Jacob sheep and chickens
for meat production.
One of the focuses of the course is the
impact of the local ecology on farming.
The interns learn sustainable and small-
scale farming practices like crop rotation,
intercropping and animal husbandry.
Sustainability is a key issue for many
HELPING HANDS FOR
LOCAL FARMERS
STORY BY GRANT BECK / PHOTOS BY CHRISSY SKUTNIK
CURIO 2012 / 5
small farms. Although Janets Garden is
not certiFed organic, Ripley does not use
any artiFcial ertilizers or pesticides. She
composts organic material and recycles it
into ertilizer applied to ood crops. Ripley
believes that this more natural approach
to farming is healthier for her and her
customers.
I`m raising this ood or me Frst, then
everyone else, said Ripley.
Another aim of the course is to teach
the interns how small-scale farms remain
viable as a business, a struggle with which
Ripley has Frst-hand experience. Janet`s
Garden, like all other farms, constantly
requires repair and construction. A barn
stands unFnished and all that remains o
a greenhouse collapsed from snow is the
metal that Ripley was able to salvage for
other uses.
The farm generates various forms of
income. Ripley makes local milk deliveries,
sells meat to restaurants, makes a twice-
weekly trip to the Staunton-Augusta
Farmers Market during the market season
(April-November) and sells her homemade
aromatherapy products.
However, the cost of running a small
farm is high. The poor economy has led
to increased food prices for restaurants,
particularly for protein. The small farm
also gets no government subsidies like
larger agribusinesses receive. Ripley also
works full time as a CT scan technologist at
the University of Virginia Medical Center
during the weekend. During the week, the
farm consumes her time.
Its keeping me active both mentally
and physically at all times, said Ripley.
Because I have a big investment in it right
now, Im doing it mostly for my customers.
But I really do enjoy the work.
Interns help alleviate some of these
diFculties or armers. Coman iews this
program as a way to establish a mutually
beneFcial relationship between students
and local farmers. Students learn practical
skills and gain knowledge to take into
future careers.
After I graduate I hope to join the Peace
Corps, said junior health sciences major
Karen Kappert, who interns at Seasons
Bounty in Harrisonburg, Va. When
working with them, youre often placed
in a location where food sources are not
optimal and you have to help rethink ways
to have a more prosperous yield.
Coffman also hopes that interns will take
the concepts of sustainability and a respect
for small-scale faming with them wherever
they go and that the interns help will
encourage farmers.
For one thing, it gives them [farmers]
hope, said Coffman. Here are these
20-somethings interested in what they have
to say and do.

As for the near future of Janets Garden,
Ripley hopes to have someone take over
the farm for a time, for what would only
be her third break in Fe years.
Necessitys going to dictate that we need
to be away for a while, said Ripley.
I want [students]
to learn not just
the mechanics and
ecology, but the culture
of farming.
JENNIFER COFFMAN
JMU Professor

A calf grazes in an enclosure

at Janets Garden. The farm is
home to six Jersey milk cows.
6 / CURIO 2012
w
6 / CURIO 2012
CURIO 2012 / 7
w

UNANCHORED
How journalism took JMU alum Jim
Acosta from Cuba to the campaign trail
STORY BY AARON KOEPPER /
PHOTOS COURTESY OF CNN

JIM ACOSTA,
CNN anchor
It was kind of a living photo album, to see relatives
that youd never met before but knew everything
about your dad and your grandparents.

AN
LIFE
I
n April 2009, an opportunity fell into Jim Acostas lap that could be called the story
of a lifetime for any journalist: to report from Cuba, a nation where travel restrictions
prevent most Americans from ever setting foot.

But Acosta, at the time a correspondent for CNN American Morning, had a personal
connection with the country: His father had emigrated from there in 1962, three years
ater lidel Castro seized power and only a year beore the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The Obama administration lifted all restrictions on Cuban-Americans who wanted to
visit relatives in April 2009, enabling Acosta and other journalists to travel there.

It was sort o a diplomatic Frst step or the Obama administration to test the waters
and see if the Cuban government was ready to move forward in terms of establishing
more democratic rights on the island, Acosta said.

On May 2, Acosta and his crew traveled out of Havana to Santa Maria del Rosario, where
Acosta`s aunt told him he might Fnd some o his relaties. Per her instructions, he went
to the church in the center of town and asked the clerk, an elderly woman, if anyone
knew his father or family.

She pulled this book off the shelf and she found his [my fathers] record of birth and
she wrote up a baptismal certiFcate to gie me and to gie to my dad,` Acosta said.

She then told him her husband might know where his immediate relatives lived and
after a short walk, he found them sitting outside their house. He and his father had no
communications with them because of the American-imposed embargo on Cuba.

They had no idea I existed, had no idea what happened to my dad, Acosta said. It was
kind of like a living photo album, to see relatives that youd never met before but knew
everything about your dad and your grandparents and that sort of thing.

The trip was a high point thus far in the career of the Annandale, Va., native, now 41,
only to be exceeded by his promotion to National Political Correspondent by CNN in
February 2012, a position that has kept him on the campaign trail since. He graduated
CURIO 2012 / 7
8 / CURIO 2012
Acosta covers Republican presidential
candidate Mitt Romneys campaign.
Acosta began his broadcasting career
as news director for JMUs radio station,
WXJM.
James Madison University alumnus Jim
Acosta works from the New Hampshire
Primary. Acosta was promoted to
National Political Correspondent by
CNN in February 2012.
James Madison University in 1993 majoring in communications
and minoring in political science.

Acostas experience with journalism started with an elementary
school Feld trip in 1981, where he watched the hostages o the
Iranian Hostage Crisis set foot in Newburgh, N.Y., after 444 days
of imprisonment.

His class was accompanied by reporters from The Washington
Post, who wanted to get a story about the class watching the
hostages.
Im quoted in the article as saying something like I was on
ABC once and NBC twice not the most poetic statement
that could be made in a news article, Acosta said. At that
point, I realized that I liked being between a camera and a
major news story.

His chance to distinguish himself came at JMU, when Acosta
joined JMUs student-run radio station, WXJM, in 1990. He helped
start the news department of the station, and held the title of news
director by 1993.

I remember him because he was very involved, said Brenda
Barnes, WXJMs adviser at the time. He was very good, very
passionate about the news.

As news director, Acosta gave a live broadcast of a forum between
students and administrators about the construction of the College
of Integrated Science and Technology campus.

The student body was mixed, Acosta said. There were students
who wanted to keep JMU smaller and more liberal arts-oriented.
The university was pushing really hard because they saw what was
coming down the road with the Internet.

Courtney Hermann, the stations general manager who graduated
in 1994, said that Acosta had a powerful on-air presence and, like
the rest of them, a questionable haircut.

Everything that was done in the early days left an imprint on what
came after, Hermann said. Jims work in the news and sports
departments was pivotal in rounding out the stations mandate to
serve the listening public.

After Acosta graduated in 1993, he went to work for the
Washington, D.C.-based radio station WMAL where a disc jockey
told him radio is for dinosaurs, youre a young kid, you should be
working for television.

From there, Acostas career moved quickly: He spent a year at Fox
WTTG-TV taking general assignments as a writer and producer.
He then moved to Knoxville, Tenn., as a reporter for WVIR-TV
from 1995 to 1998.

He worked as a reporter for the CBS-owned KTVT-TV in Dallas
from 1998 to 2000 as reporter and substitute anchor for Chicago
station CBS WBBM-TV in 2000 before joining CBS Newspath
in 2001.

Newspath, CBS`s 24-hour news serice, gae Acosta his Frst run
MALINDA ADAMS,
ESPN Producer

He always knows a story and he never let up.

8 / CURIO 2012
CURIO 2012 / 9
CNN political anchor Wolf Blitzer and
Acosta cover the 2012 Republican
Debate in Jacksonville, Florida.
at national stories: the New York City blackout, the D.C.-area
sniper attacks and the 2004 presidential campaign. By 2003, he
was working for CBS News, in the New York bureau and then the
Atlanta bureau, where he covered hurricanes with his producer,
Malinda Adams.
Adams, who now works as a producer for ESPN, remembers
Acosta as a consummate professional.
It was great to work with someone youre in sync with, Adams
said. We were always going in the same direction on a story.
Many of the stories the two covered together revolved around
active 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons, and they often found
themseles taking plane nights and dries across the country on
short notice.
CNN was impressed enough that they hired him in 2007 to be
part of their morning show, American Morning.
As a correspondent on American Morning, Acosta was aggressive
about getting interiews with political Fgures. le got two exclusie
interviews with Tea Party congressional candidates Christine
ODonnell and Sharron Angle.

She [ODonnell] wasnt doing a whole lot of national interviews,
Acosta said. \e doggedly pursued that interiew and she Fnally
relented.
Acostas political aptitude was noticed by Washington Bureau
Chief Sam Feist, who promoted him in February 2012.

Jim has been an outstanding addition to the political team, Feist
said. He has emerged as one of the key reporters on the campaign
trail and his astute skills will only help to position the network to
dominate this important election cycle.

Since his promotion to National Political Correspondent, he has
followed the primary campaigns of Republican candidates Mitt
Romney and Rick Santorum. He described this years primary as
an amazing race to watch` and similar to the 2008 Democratic
primary between Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Acosta said Santorums candidacy, which ended on April 10, was
the most interesting to follow.
Santorum has caught everybody by surprise. I dont think a lot
of people expected him to make it this far, Acosta said. Its been
kind of refreshing to see how hes been able to do it he hasnt
done it with a large organization, he hasn`t done it with a lot o
Fnancial help. le`s been doing it by driing around and talking to
town hall meetings and talking at rallies.

The downside of the job is constant travel: Acosta gave this
interview while driving to Gettysburg to cover Santorums
performance in the Illinois primary in March.

1his is has been a sacriFce on my amily,` Acosta said. But I tell
my kids this will end, this too shall pass. November will come and
daddy will be home more often.
Despite the strain, Adams described Acosta as someone who never
gave up on a story.
Hed call and call and call [sources], Adams said. He always
knows a story and he never let up.
As of printing in April, Acosta continued to follow the Romney
campaign.
CURIO 2012 / 9
10 / CURIO 2012
STORY BY JORDAN PYE /
PHOTOS BY CHRISSY SKUTNIK
GLOBAL
LOCAL
GOING
LIVING
T
he Maharaja Bowl began with a recipe for curried lentils from Extending the Table by Joetta Handrich Schlabach, an
international collection of everyday recipes in the spirit of more with less.
The kids liked it, the restaurant owners liked it and the name, the Hindi word for Indian prince, was a suggestion from an intern.
Served over rice with mango chutney, yogurt and a side of fresh-baked nann, its now No. 4 on the menu at A Bowl of Good Caf.
Tucked into the Common Good Marketplace off Mount Clinton Pike in Harrisonburg, the caf turns internationally inspired recipes
into a community-centered business.
We are passionate purveyors of food that is good, not complicated, restaurant owner and founder Katrina Didot said.
Open at 8 a.m. Monday through Saturday to serve breakfast bowls, the caf bakes its own bread, cookies and gluten-free brownies.
Coolers near the cash register display grab-and-go sandwiches, rozen quarts o soup and locally-produced goods including granola,
honey and canola oil.
By lunchtime, the scent of cumin and fresh rice waft from the kitchen into the contemporary entrance, where a round ceiling looms
over red counters and cabinets and the walls feature artwork from Artisans Hope, the adjoining fair trade craft store. Customers gather
at the homemade tables and booths, ashioned rom the planks o a century-old barn in Cross Keys, Va. and modiFed with ceramic
tiles from Guatemala and other countries. Tribal drumbeats of world music drift through the air while Didot and her staff craft their
dishes from locally-grown ingredients.
Didot, a licensed clinical social worker and mother of two adopted children, Eva, 13, and Luther, 15, has been a Harrisonburg resident
since 2003. She began selling soup in 2005 inside Kates Natural Products on University Boulevard after a year of social work. Her
10 / CURIO 2012
CURIO 2012 / 11
When you have a relationship
with the person you buy
from, you want to be able to
afford it, and you want them
to proft, too, when you know
the person on the other end.

KATRINA DIDOT
Founder of A Bowl of Good Caf

experiences with troubled young people conFrmed her belie that

having family dinner can make a big difference in a childs life.
Weve lost the ritual of eating together and cooking together,
Didot said. At A Bowl of Good, we want people to have those
rituals and want to model them here.
The menu features 10 bowls, each a recipe from a different region
of the world. Most of the dishes draw from Didots international
experiences: the Mediterranean bowl, Its All Greek to Me,
was inspired by her travels to Greece during college. The Tom
Kha Gai Bowl is a Thai recipe she learned from a Vietnamese
colleague at her Frst post-graduation job in Philadelphia, working
with unaccompanied Vietnamese refugee children placed in foster
homes.
Didot has lived in Haiti and Guatemala, backpacked through parts
o Lurope and traeled to Mexico, Ll Salador, Belize and other
parts of Central America. Her Vietnamese coworkers and other
people she has met abroad impressed her with how much they
enjoyed celebrations and coming together over food.
Something Ive learned from other cultures, Didot said, is
learning joy, nurturing joy in a workplace.
A Bowl of Good provides a third-place for community members,
ater work and home. 1he ca exempliFes social entrepreneurship
at the community level, a drastic difference from the franchises
and chain restaurants that line the sides of Route 33.
Didot encourages her staff to get to know their customers, to bring
community members together and connect the dots between them,
because a lot of people are looking for some kind of connection.
Community connections played a large role in the early days of her
business, when Didot rented the kitchen of Blue Nile restaurants
old location to make soups on days they were closed, and Red
lront Supermarket gae her reezer space to store her products.
After moving out of Kates Natural Products, Didot kept in touch
with her customers by selling her wares at the farmers market.
I had no idea how many I had, Didot said of her solid customer
base, which encouraged her to continue to make and sell products.
I think its somewhere in my heart because I didnt picture myself
in a farmers market.
The relationships Didot formed through the farmers market
expanded her knowledge of the local food movement and
CURIO 2012 / 11
12 / CURIO 2012
Each day, the restaurant produces up to 10 buckets of pre-consumer compost including peels and
vegetable ends from cooking that go to a local farmer. In addition the caf only produces one half full single
40-gallon garbage bag of trash per day. The coffee cups and 16 oz. cold cups used in the restaurant are also
compostable.
In a backyard garden, the caf grows cilantro, basil and mint. After meeting Didot last semester, James Madison
University juniors and integrated science and technology majors Sam Frere and Daniel Warren began its
transformation into a sustainable agriculture project to create a year-round garden.
To mako tno gardon sol-suhoiont, tno plan will inoorporato an on-sito rotating oompost systom, mini plastio wrap
greenhouses to extend the growing season and an irrigation system supplied by rainwater collection from the
buildings roof. The facility itself was designed with solar water heating technology to reduce energy needs and
long-term costs.
GOOD TO THE EARTH
broadened her connections with local
farmers. In 2008, she saw an opportunity
to take her business to the next level when
she learned of a storefront opening next to
Gift and Thrift on Mt. Clinton Pike. With
the help of business partner Rachel Rose,
a real estate agent and frequent customer
from the farmers market, Didot opened
the restaurant in August 2009.
Despite Ftting in perectly with the
nonproFt atmosphere o the Common
Good Marketplace, Didot described herself
as an unapologetic income generator.
ProFt isn`t a bad word,` Didot said. I we
don`t get the proFt someone else will, and
may not put it back into the community.
The more we generate, the more we can
do.
While striving to build local roots, A
Bowl of Good also keeps an eye on the
international community. Immediately
after the 2010 earthquake disaster in Haiti,
the caf hosted a fundraiser, set up an
12-person tent city and spent the night
outside to remind people about the plight
of the Haitians. They raised $8,000 for
disaster relief and, on the earthquakes
anniversary, raised another $4,000.
Efforts to embrace more international
community members have included
inviting them as guest cooks to share
dishes from Indian and Chinese culture.
During international story time at 9
a.m. on Wednesdays, a volunteer reads
a children`s story rom a speciFc culture
before an ethnically-themed lunch special.
For one Wednesday in February, an Eastern
European story was served with borscht.
Didot`s nonproFt neighbors share her
global focus, food justice and fair trade
causes while attracting similar clientele:
locals, middle class professionals, the
Eastern Mennonite University community,
as well as people who travel and care about
how they eat.
Gift and Thrift employee Ruby Lehman
and her daughter Judy Lehman came to the
cae the Frst weekend it opened because
they liked Didots soups. They enjoy the
affordability of wholesome, organic and
international foods that also support local
farmers.
It feels like youre supporting the
principles of a restaurant, Judy Lehman
said.
Harrisonburg residents Emily Casey and
Katherine Morrison work together at
MODdisplays on East Market Street. Casey
had been coming to A Bowl of Good for
about a year ater she Frst heard o it
through word of mouth.
I like that everything is local and its all
really fresh, Casey said.
Shes partial to the Mac and Jack of the
Valley bowl, which pairs baked macaroni
and local jack cheese with green beans in a
garlic butter sauce.
Morrison ordered a side Greek salad with
the soup of the day, and said shes a fan
of the cafes salad choices and ready-made
lunch options.
The grab-and-go features appeal to
students on the run. [Eastern Mennonite
University] students love it here, Morrison
said. I like coming here to support a local
establishment that provides great service.
No one has a better appreciation for how
far the cafe has come than the 15-person
staff.
They come from diverse backgrounds and
renect the cae`s multicultural atmosphere:
Artisan cheese maker Melissa Lapp, who
was adopted rom Belize, joined the crew
after moving from upstate New York, and
Andy Whitten, who has been with the
restaurant since it opened, was adopted
from Colombia.
English and Spanish are spoken in the
kitchen and several employees are bilingual,
including Cuban native Marielys Leon, who
worked with Didot at Kates Natural Foods
and has been producing soup in the cafe
12 / CURIO 2012
CURIO 2012 / 13
since October.
We hire for heart, Didot said. I see us
as a great place for an immigrant to get a
start, to be able to gie people their Frst
job here.
Employee Rachel Freed graduated from
Longwood University last year, and after
working other jobs in food service and
college dining halls, she found that the staff
at A Bowl of Good has more compassion
than the others.
People are willing to forgive mistakes and
I really appreciate that, she said. Theres
a lot more love, the bosses care about
you and you care more about what youre
doing.
Last June, Pennsylvania native and EMU
graduate Benjamin Bergey began working
in the soup production aspect of the caf.
By November he had transitioned into a
newly-created general manager position.
Despite the negative aura he thinks
surrounds employees in other food service
jobs, A Bowl of Good is nurturing
and geared toward employee needs,
Bergey said. Its about the camaraderie,
friendships and relationships with staff and
customers.
Employee bonding activities have included
Feld trips to the production centers or
Route 11 potato chips and herb grower,
Shenandoah Growers, just up the street
from the caf. Christmas dinner and
a summer swimming party are annual
traditions. To put their servant leadership
ideals into practice, Didot began a quarterly
staff dinner where employees take turns
preparing and serving a meal for each
other. Customer service training sessions
also focus on team building and sharing
food.
Our staff is very playful, Didot said, and
when gathering off the clock, we usually
eat together no matter what we do.
At the caf, one of Bergeys responsibilities
is to place orders for the ingredients, most
of which come from a core group of
local farms that Didot has networked with
since the farmers market. The caf uses
hydroponic lettuce grown by Portwood
Gardens, tomatoes from Wayside Produce,
wheat berries from Heartland Harvest,
onions from North Mountain Produce
and carrots and other produce from
Harrisonburg farmer Radell Shrock. The
coffee is roasted locally, and the beef and
pork are bought locally one animal at a
time, instead of 20 pounds at a time.
When you have a relationship with the
person you buy from, you want to be able
to aord it, and you want them to proFt,
too, when you know the person on the
other end, Didot said.
The community connections come in handy
when farmers can offer Didot an excess of
produce. She sometimes purchases food in
bulk from the Shenandoah Valley Produce
Auction.
In August, Didot hopes to reach new
customers by opening a second cafe on
Port Republic Road in the Port Crossing
shopping center near Vitos Italian Kitchen.
The main kitchen in the original location
would produce much of the food for both
cafes, a testament to the simplicity of the
recipes that Dido encourages customers to
try on their own.
Theres no mystery to the recipes, she
said. Its basic ingredients in a bowl, meals
that are easy to recreate at home with the
family.
Weve lost the ritual of eating together and cooking together. We
want people to have those rituals and want to model them here.

KATRINA DIDOT
Founder of A Bowl of Good Caf

CURIO 2012 / 13
14 / CURIO 2012
Land of Lavender
STORY BY ZETA DOWDY / PHOTOS BY CHRISSY SKUTNIK
CURIO 2012 / 15

Ingredients:
1 cups four
1 cups cake four
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter or margarine
1 tsp. salt
tsp. baking powder
tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 tsp. lavender buds
Lavender
Pound
Cake
JULIE HAUSHALTER
Founder and Owner White Oaks Lavender Farm

Lavender is relatively easy to grow

organically, but its still farming; you have
to have a good reason to do it.

E
ven in the off-season at White Oak Lavender Farm, the soft but unmistakable scent of
laender noats up rom the rows o dusted-purple herbs. 1he alpacas milling nearby
and the Flemish Giant rabbits lounging in the sun may be momentarily disorienting, but
upon seeing Julie laushalter - her shirt, earrings, glasses and Fngernails all some shade
of purple it becomes clear that this is a lavender farm.
1he arm, which is situated about Fe miles east o larrisonburg
on an old Civil War battleground off Route 276, has run for the
past three years on the elbow grease of Julie, her husband Rick,
her parents Jim and Jessie Walton, and a few non-relative workers.
Recently, Julie and Ricks daughter, Rebecca, came back to work
full-time at White Oak Lavender after being the manager of
nearby Cross Keys Vineyard.
We like to say shes here for quality control, Julie said.
As Rebecca humbly denied this, she carefully sprinkled
teaspoonuls o laender buds into a tiny, organza drawstring
bag. She was Flling an order or 200 o them to be sent to a sta
of nurses.
Julie has been known to make lavender sugar cookies, lavender
pound cake, and starting in the summer, she will make and sell
lavender ice cream.
Lavender ice cream is currently on the menu at the Local Chop
and Grill House in downtown Harrisonburg, where chef Rachel
Herr adds a couple of tablespoons of rough-chopped White Oak
laender buds to a batch o ice cream, blending it with naors o
honey and vanilla.
Lavender is tricky, she said. Its really light but if you add too
much it can taste soapy.
The versatility of lavender doesnt end in the kitchen. It is anti-
innammatory, meaning it can reduce swelling and pain, and
antiseptic. Its distinct scent has always been popular in bath
products. It can repel moths from clothing. It has calming effects
and could even help with sleeping disorders. For a plant with so
much potential, lavender is fairly low-maintenance and will bloom
without being coaxed by chemicals. According to About.com,
lavender is a tough plant that can survive a variety of climates,
from the dry heat of the Mediterranean, where it originated, to
the humidity of Virginia.
Lavender is relatively easy to grow organically, but its still
farming, Julie said. You have to have a good reason to do it.

Julie does have a good reason. Her sister, Susan, was diagnosed in
16 / CURIO 2012


Directions:
- Cream butter, sugar and lavender buds
- Add vanilla and eggs
- S|ft four together w|th sa|t, soda and
baking powder
- Add to creamed mixture alternating with
buttermilk
- Pour in well greased
bundt pan and bake at 350 for 50
minutes
- Cool and remove from pan
Lavender
Pound
Cake
1996 with breast cancer and given six months to live. Julie believes
the stress in Susans life was making the cancer more aggressive.
Susan chose not to undergo chemotherapy, and instead taught
art therapy classes for grieving families while she was terminal.
She lived a year and a half longer than the doctor had estimated.
Today, the Haushalters seem to be all about stress relief. They
emphasize the calming and healing abilities o laender in the
products they sell and the activities they oversee. Julie guides
groups through relaxation- and communication-oriented activities
and workshops. For example, guests can meditate by walking
through the stone-lined labyrinth.
Most of the folks at White Oak Lavender hold more general than
specialized duties around the arm. \ill Doran, the groundskeeper
and a James Madison University piano major from the class of
2011, is an exception.
Ever since he graduated, Doran has helped maintain the farms
6,000 lavender plants. Hes also in charge of the animals, giving
them food and water and cleaning out the stalls and cages. There
are rabbits, horses and a pony, but the alpacas are Dorans favorite.
These new additions to White Oak are apparently a little shy.
I have to catch them while theyre eating. They dont spit as much
as llamas, but they`e tried,` Doran said as he pet a signiFcantly
more docile resident of the farm, Pumpkin the cat.
Another popular draw to White Oak Lavender is the mediated
circle process, during which a group of employees gather
and may discuss a collectie goal or connict. A member o the
group may only speak when holding a talking piece, which is
continually passed so that people who need more time to process
their thoughts have multiple chances to share them.
CURIO 2012 / 17
Ive had people come up to me and say that was the
ery Frst time they had eer been able to speak up in
a faculty meeting, Julie said.

Inside the shop, the air is even more concentrated
with the smell of lavender than outside. White Oaks
lavender store houses about 95 different products.
These range from the expected decorative
lavender, culinary lavender to the unusual deep
muscle jelly and lavender tattoo cream. For lavender
to be such a ersatile material, it must Frst hae its oil
and its water, or norasol, extracted. At \hite Oak, this
happens in the distiller, a surprisingly uncomplicated
contraption that sits atop a truck-less trailer.
Laender is picked in the Feld and put into a hopper,
which looks like a large metal barrel. The hopper
is returned to the distiller where its contents are
essentially pressure-cooked. The resulting steam
travels up through a condenser, which turns it to
liquid. In this state, the water and the oil are separated
and collected.
Julie Haushalter picked up a Mason jar of the golden
lavender oil and popped it open. The fragrance
punched exponentially harder than the one emitted
from the whole plants.
The celebrated smell attracts shoppers and tourists all
year long, but White Oak is busiest starting in June.
This is when the lavender is harvested, and when the
Haushalters open the farm to tours Tuesday through
Saturday starting at 11 a.m.
The tour costs $5, and begins with basic information
on the kinds of lavender grown at White Oak. Then
visitors are introduced to the animals and given a
demonstration of the distillery. They also learn about
some of the areas Civil War history, and about the
barn swallows that return from South America every
April within the same three-day period.
Julie is happy to teach beyond the tour. She says she
has mentored more than 40 couples looking to start
lavender farms of their own. Currently, there are
many more on the West Coast than the East, because
more varieties of the plant can be grown in the less
humid climate. But if people like the Haushalters
keep the tradition alive, there may be more lavender
delectables to be had and more of that scent to be
sniffed around the Valley.
CURIO 2012 / 17
ZETA DOWDY is a senior SMAD major with a
concentration in Journalism, a minor in French and a
minor in Creative Writing. Originally from Richmond, Va.,
she hopes for a post-graduation editorial internship in
an equally interesting city.
Its the only way I can live.
Its a choice between life
or death.

MONTHER HAMID
Iraqi Army Linguist
18 / CURIO 2012
CURIO 2012 / 19
T

wo men insurgents tied him up while a third
held a pistol to his head. Monther Bruce Hamid,
an Iraqi Army linguist, was held in a small room
and beaten for working with the U.S. Army.
Im dead dead. Thats it, he thought.
While he was ultimately rescued from this 2007 kidnapping,
the incident conFrmed lamid`s belie that he needed to
leave Baghdad.
Its the only way I can live, said Hamid. Its choice
between life or death. Thats it.
On Jan. 25, Hamid arrived at the Virginia Council of
Churches Refugee Resettlement Programs Harrisonburg
branch on Llizabeth Street just north o U.S. 33.
The program, based in Richmond, began hosting
refugees in Harrisonburg in the early 80s and opened a
Harrisonburg branch in 1988. In those days, the program
resettled about 35 individuals each year. In 2011 the branch
resettled close to 80 reugees, people neeing their countries
fearing death or persecution.
LANGUAGE
UNLOCKS
NEW LIFE
STORY BY SARAH LOCKWOOD / PHOTOS BY BRANDON PAYNE
CURIO 2012 / 19
20 / CURIO 2012
Getting ELL-endorsed
teachers is a challenge,
but, really, I think the
greater challenge is getting
all our teachers ready.
SCOTT KIZNER
Harrisonburg City Schools Superintendent

The Harrisonburg branch has resettled refugees from more

than 20 countries. Recently most have been from Iraq, Eritrea,
Burma and Cuba.
Hamid left Iraq with his wife, Dhuha, and 2-year-old
daughter, Aaya, in 2012.
Arriving in Harrisonburg was just the beginning. The program
provides refugees with basic needs: Apartments must be
secured and furnished with beds, bedding, chairs and a stocked
ridge. Lighty-Fe percent o these amenities are unded by
federal and state funds. The rest comes from donations in the
form of furniture, food and money, said Jim Hershberger, the
program director.
But refugees main task is to hunker down and learn English,
a key to success in job searches and classrooms. English is
a second language for 35.6 percent of Harrisonburg public
school students, according to the superintendent`s oFce. So
the school system is prepared for refugees. But adults also need
to learn the language.
Hershberger encourages new arrivals to participate in the
programs new Life Skills class.
The four-week course, 10 a.m. to noon Monday through
1hursday, teaches Lnglish and the American ways o Fnance,
health care, safety and education.
Jackie Cramer, who coordinates these classes, said there are
many myths about teaching English as a second language (ESL).
For example, some think that an ESL teacher needs to know
the students native language. But English is the only language
needed to teach ESL, the only one used in this classroom.
Hamid breaks this rule as he turns to an Arabic-speaking
volunteer.
You can speak Arabic after class, instructor Rebecca Sprague
scolds amiably.
Sprague shows lamid the Daily News-Record, nipping to the
weather. Moving to the blackboard, she draws a thermostat.
1he class joins in as she laughs at her Frst attempt. 1hey spend
the next couple of minutes discussing the conversion from the
familiar Celsius to Fahrenheit.
In the corner, a James Madison University student volunteer
works with an Eritrean man individually.
Today is Thursday, she said.
Thursday, he repeated.
Yesterday and tomorrow are next on the schedule.
Hamid spoke English for four years as a linguist, but still
attended Spragues class with his wife, who is just learning.
In between one-on-one instruction,
Rebecca Sprague addresses the
entire Life Skills class.
CURIO 2012 / 21
Derrick Charles Skyline Middle
School 7th and 8th grade class is part
of the Newcomer program, which is
crucial to English language learners
(ELL) students successful integration
into mainstream classrooms.
Theyre here, not because of an
academic need, but because of a
language need, said Charles. Its an
enormous change a different culture,
a different school system, a different
language and coming into this world,
especially at the time of middle school,
too.
The target is for each newcomer to
reach a second grade English reading
level, which Charles called a pretty
monumental feat.
Think about going from Kindergarten
to second grade in one year, he said.
So the program, even during science
and social studies, is constantly
focusing on literacy through identifying
unknown words from context, footnotes
and glossaries.
Newcomer typically stay in the program
for two semesters, at which point, the
student will join mainstream classes
with varying levels of support. But its a
case-by-case basis.
While a variety of backgrounds,
academic levels and developmental
levels can cause challenges, most
newcomers have one thing to their
advantage: enthusiasm.
Most experience a culture shock
curve where you start and everythings
exciting and achievable, said Charles.
Like Life Skill class teacher Rebecca
Sprague, Charles tries not to speak
Spanish, which 10 of the 14 students
speak.
While were in here the language we all
share is English, he said.
But its also important for students
NEWCOMER CLASS
Its a lot of material, said Hamid. New things like jobs, new
rules, things of culture.
While Hamid, like many refugees, got a job at a local factory and
hopes to save money to attend college, other refugees hope their
degrees will cross the border with them.
It`s pretty easy to Fnd a job, but a job that Fts into someone`s skill
set is much more diFcult,` said Cramer.
Hershberger agrees that engineers, physicians and lawyers have
trouble getting their skills recognized in the U.S.
But reugees had to get into the states Frst.
In May 2010, Hamid began the visa application process. He and
his family arrived in Harrisonburg on Jan. 25, 2012. Others have
waited even longer.
Iraqi linguists working with the United States are in a dangerous
position, as lamid`s kidnapping made clear. Many look to nee
the country.
lamid receied the nickname Bruce` on his Frst day with the
Army. And thats all his battalion knew him as.
They cant just use Arabic names, said Hamid. [Insurgents are]
going to kidnap you, or come to your home.
In 2008, an opportunity opened for translators and linguists
to continue to develop their native
language.
First language literacy is important for
long-term academic success, said
Charles. I want us to look intentionally
about how were going to do that in
the future.
Skyline does not currently offer a
native Spanish speaker class. Charles
has tr|ed to f|| that ho|e for some of h|s
students.
Every day, when some students from
across the division take an early bus
home, Spanish speakers are left for
half an hour. Charles has been using
this time to read short Spanish stories
and work on the students Spanish
writing accuracy.
Charles has spent three years working
with the Newcomer program, and its
been about constant adaptation.
Its a never-ending experiment.
22 / CURIO 2012
What we take for granted, they cant believe. And what
they tell us, we cant believe.
SCOTT KIZNER
Harrisonburg City Schools Superintendent

looking to nee the country through the Deense Authorization

Act, which allowed Special Immigration Visas (SIVs) for Iraqi
translators and interpreters. Under the act, 50 SIVs may be issued
per year through 2012. Spouses and children are not included in
the quota.
This is my friends, said Hamid, clicking on a picture of himself
and fellow linguists. Theyre all waiting to come over here. Theyre
all applying for visa.
But its a complicated process involving many steps and mountains
of paperwork. The requirements include a recommendation letter
rom a U.S. citizen, eriFcation o 12 months employment with
the U.S. government and demonstration of an ongoing, serious
threat.
One of Hamids friends applied in April 2009 and has not received
a visa yet.
I saw people came from Egypt here in four months, from Turkey
in one year, Hamid observed, frustrated. In Iraq, it takes years.
Whats the system?
lamid was the Frst o his riends to receie the isa. Despite the
Bruce Hamid, second from the left, sits with other Iraqi linguists in
the U.S. Army. His linguist friends are all hoping to receive a Special
Immigration Visa to the United States.
22 / CURIO 2012
CURIO 2012 / 23
waiting game, Hamid has hopes his sister and her family are able
to make the move as well.
Once in the states, many refugees goals include higher education
for their children. At 2 years old, Aaya Hamid would have no
trouble picking up Lnglish, but education is diFcult or reugee
children entering the public school system.
Fortunately for many refugees, who comprise a small portion of
ELL students, Harrisonburg teachers are experienced in teaching
English. (ELL, for English language learners, is the new ESL term,
because English is often the third or fourth language.)
The nice thing in Harrisonburg is that this has been a gradual
increase, said Harrisonburg City Schools Superintendent Scott
Kizner.
Kizner, who moed to larrisonburg nearly two years ago,
applauded the school board`s ability to adjust to the innux in LLL
students.
This progress includes bi- and multilingual intermediaries as
well as a Welcome Center for new families. Based on Limited
Lnglish ProFciency Leels 1-, LLL students are placed in small
Newcomers classes or regular classrooms with varying levels of
support. Because about 37 percent of Harrisonburgs elementary,
middle and high school students are Level 3 and 4, ELL training
for all teachers in all subjects is crucial.
Getting LLL-endorsed teachers is a challenge,` said Kizner.
But, really, I think the greater challenge is getting all our teachers
ready.
Kizner pointed out that LLL children in larrisonburg typically
also face poverty; refugee children often struggle with even more.
\hat we take or granted, they can`t beliee,` said Kizner. And
what they tell us, we cant believe.

Some come from communities without running water or cars.
Children rom war zones ace post-traumatic stress. Most had
little notice of their move.
Despite challenges, Kizner beliees that larrisonburg`s high LLL
population was part of the school systems success.
Back in Hamids classroom, he reads a worksheet about
professionalism in the workplace.
He reads that in America his boss could be any gender, ethnicity
or age.
What? That is different.
It was a big adjustment. And refugees need time for that
adjustment, Superintendent Kizner says.
I mean, one day youre in Tehran, next day youre in freaking
Harrisonburg.
The Harrisonburg branch of Virginia Council of Churches Refugee Resettlement program has resettled refugees
from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia, Burma/Myanmar, Colombia, Congo, Croatia, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran,
Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Russia, Rwanda, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
24 / CURIO 2012
O
n Team Trivia Night, held every Tuesday at 9 p.m., friendly F-bombs bounce from wall
to art-lined wall in the yellow atmosphere of Clementine Caf on South Main Street in
downtown larrisonburg. 1he oice responsible belongs to Dallas Sweezy, a waiter and
bartender who doubles as the popular and irreverent trivia emcee. He and his righteously thick beard
can be found up on stage, perhaps sipping a Dark and Stormy, one of Clementines stronger drinks,
and almost certainly getting progressively louder. He begins a question, cutting through the equally
boisterous crowd.
On this day in history shut the f--k up while I read this...
A senior history major at James Madison Uniersity, Sweezy always includes an on-this-day-in-
history question. The rest of his questions range from chemistry and mountains to constellations
and Freddie Mercury.
I want people to go away being drunk, haing un and maybe learning something,` said Sweezy.
STORY BY ZETA DOWDY / PHOTOS BY BRANDON PAYNE
24 / CURIO 2012
CURIO 2012 / 25
Dave Anderson, a senior political science major at JMU, has been
a regular at Trivia Night all school year.
Its something stimulating to do on a Tuesday night that doesnt
involve video games, he said.
For the March 13 game, Dallas gave some of the trivia questions
a theme corresponding to St. Patricks Day, but he protests in
favor of his own heritage by wearing a Scottish kilt and a Scottish
satchel made from the pelt of a baby seal, a product which is now
quite illegal to produce.
\hile Sweezy embraces his Scottish heritage, he`s also extremely
proud of his roots in the American South. He has family from
Arkansas, Georgia and, of course, Texas. He and his siblings,
Austin, Carson and Madison, are all named after Texas cities. He
tries to pinpoint what makes the South, the South, and according
to him, Virginia doesnt have it.
You gotta have Spanish moss, a s---load of cicadas...

Mike lughes is currently Sweezy`s co-host and will step up as the
new trivia host once Dallas graduates. He is more than happy to
object.
Wait, cicadas are really big in the North, he said. You know
what? New Jersey has a lot of cicadas.
Sweezy concedes on the cicada point, but continues to search or
his deFnition o the South.
I mean, mainly its the cooking, its the culture, its...
The lack of turn signals? Hughes suggests.
They appear to be arguing for the sake of debate. Even though
Mike identiFes as a Northerner and Dallas as a Southerner, the
enthusiastic banter that goes on between them makes it
clear that trivia will still be a good old, controversial time
next year.
One Tuesday night, someone in the crowd said something
about Sweezy`s beard. It`s diFcult to understand what
exactly was said, but easy to hear Sweezy subsequently
threatening the heckler with the human-sized sculpture o
a giraffe neck looming over the bar. Alas, the threat turns
out to be an empty one, and Sweezy continues with triia.
Dallas is deFnitely unconentional when you think about
a trivia host, said senior nutrition major Aubrey Stueckler,
who has only been to trivia night a few times.
Sometimes we have to rein him in a little bit, said
Lauren Jones, general manager at Clementine. Every host
has been pretty bawdy but Dallas has taken it to another

Sometimes we have to rein him in a little bit ... Every host has
been pretty bawdy but Dallas has taken it to another level.
level.
In addition to writing the questions for trivia, Dallas makes
the playlists. One night may have a cornucopia of tunes from
Jimi Hendrix to the Dropkick Murphys for St. Patricks Day,
another may feature a more streamlined Michael Jackson and
Prince soundtrack. He says he sometimes makes up three or four
playlists and asks the audience which one to play. He may follow
their suggestion, or he may choose to play exactly what they dont
want to hear.
The song that plays during the shot question Shots by
LMFAO never varies. The answer to this question is always
a number; it is rarely common knowledge. What if a team have
no earthly idea how many species o horseny there are, or how
many pounds of green dye are dumped into the Chicago River
on St. Patricks Day?
As Sweezy says: 1his is the shots round. \ou can leae i you
dont like it.
He comes across as someone who wants to be heard and known,
but or a guy who`s so talkatie, Sweezy is surprisingly attentie.
If someone asks him about Texas then, at the end of his tangent
about the states motto, hell ask, Where are you from? He cant
walk from one end of the restaurant to the other without seeing
someone who knows him, but i he doesn`t recognize a ace
immediately, hell offer a sincere apology, and a double chocolate
stout on the house.
LAUREN JONES
General Manager
STORY BY ZETA DOWDY / PHOTOS BY BRANDON PAYNE
ZETA DOWDY is a senior SMAD major with a
concentration in Journalism, a minor in French and a
minor in Creative Writing. Originally from Richmond, Va.,
she hopes for a post-graduation editorial internship in
an equally interesting city.
26 / CURIO 2012
Old West
meets
the
STORY BY MALISSA WATTERSON / PHOTOS BY BRANDON PAYNE
CHRISTIANITY
CURIO 2012 / 27
F
ive times a week, Raymond Bell of Roanoke slips into his
pair of faded, black leather cowboy boots. Embellished
with tin on the toes and heels, these cowboy boots are
specially worn for preaching the word of God.
Bell, 53, is senior pastor for the Cowboy Church of Virginia.
While delivering Christian worship services throughout the
Shenandoah Valley and western areas of the state, he also dons
blue jeans and a cowboy hat. The latter sits on top of Bells short,
black hair thats peppered with bits of gray the same color as
his mustache.
A non-denominational ministry with no dress code or mandatory
offerings, the Cowboy Church of Virginia stands out.
\e don`t hae all the trappings you Fnd in traditional churches,`
Bell said of the ministry. Theres no structure, no politics in
Cowboy Church.
Attendees often meet in barns, farm pastures, livestock arenas and
local club buildings, where they are served a chuck wagon meal
before the worship service.
Bell preaches at various locations throughout the week Sunday
mornings in Mount Crawford, Sunday nights in Roanoke, Tuesday
nights in Blacksburg, Thursday nights in Moneta and Saturday
nights in Mount Jackson. A Bible study also takes place Wednesday
nights at Hollins University in Roanoke.
At each location, cowboys, cowgirls, farmers and people from all
types of occupational and lifestyle backgrounds gather together
for the informal worship services.
Paula Bonin of Mathias, W. Va., is a regular attendee at the Sunday
morning service held inside Mount Crawfords Ruritan Club,
about an hour away from Mathias.
Bonin discovered the Cowboy Church of Virginia about a year
ago after she searched the Internet for a different kind of worship
service.
I wanted a church that did the full gospel but that didnt have the
formalities, the gossiping or mandatory offerings, Bonin said.
And Cowboy Church kept popping up.
Bell was introduced to the concept of a Cowboy Church in 2004
while attending the Professional Bull Riders National Rodeo
Finals in Las Vegas with his wife, Linda, who was a fan of bull
riding at that time.
At the event, professional bull riders publicly led worship services
and shared faith testimonies to attendees.
The service lasted two and a half hours but no one cared, Bell
said. The power of God was so dramatic that nobody wanted
to leave.
On the drive back from Las Vegas, Bell says God gave him the
concepts for starting up a Cowboy Church in Virginia and he
began writing down the model for the ministry on the back of
envelopes and on napkins.
The model contains principles practiced within fellow Cowboy
Churches in the country, such as providing a laid-back worship
atmosphere with no dress code or mandatory offering.
RAYMOND BELL,
Senior Pastor of the Cowboy Church of Virginia

Ive met Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, drug addicts and

alcoholics. At Cowboy Church theres no kind of norm. Everybody
is somebody, and Jesus Christ is Lord.

CURIO 2012 / 27
28 / CURIO 2012
Bells model includes his own structured worship service, which
begins with an opening song followed by the Pledge of Allegiance
to the American nag.
A lot of people experience Cowboy Church at rodeos or fairs,
so the Pledge of Allegiance is something theyre familiar with,
Bell said.
After discovering the Cowboy Church, Bell and his wife worked
together to Fnd the ministry`s Frst location in Virginia.
Our Frst challenge was Fguring out what to do,` Bell said. It was
hard to explain what Cowboy Church was to others.
He soon heard of a Cowboy Church pastor in North Carolina
reaching out to livestock arenas, asking herders if they were
interested in starting up a Cowboy Church.
Bell then decided to contact livestock arenas in Virginia, and The
Wythe County Livestock Exchange in Wytheville, an hour west
of Blacksburg, quickly responded.
In 2005, the Frst Cowboy Church o Virginia was established in
Wytheville.
Months later, word spread about the ministry, and people were
contacting Bell about setting up additional locations.
We never thought there would be but just one, he said.
Cowboy Church of Virginia has expanded mainly through word
of mouth. Other avenues of promotion for the ministry are its
brochures distributed during worship services and its website,
cowboychurchofva.com.

Today, there are 14 Cowboy Churches in Virginia, nine of which
Bell and other members of the ministry started. Between 12 and
30 people usually attend the Fe Cowboy Church serices held
throughout the week, according to Bell.
On Sundays, Bell and his wife wake up at 6 a.m. and drive 110
miles from Roanoke to Mount Crawfords Ruritan Club for the
morning worship service.
Upon arrival, Bell and other church attendees unload two trucks
Flled with portable audio and computer equipment, including
three small computer monitors, three microphones, a soundboard,
a 42-inch nat screen LCD teleision, a large speaker and spools
of cables.
So much technology is incorporated into a Cowboy Church
service because the ministry needs to be transported to multiple
locations during the week, as well as to rodeos, trail rides, county
fairs and several other events throughout the year.
A lot of people think its odd that cowboys are using technology,
Bell said. Thats a complete misnomer because I havent been on
a trail ride in Fe years where someone hasn`t used a GPS.`
Within 20 minutes, everything is set up to display PowerPoint
slides from the computer monitors to the large television screen.
These slides contain biblical scripture and lyrics to worship songs
a mixture of country gospel, christian hymns and Christian
secular music.
While Bell is busy setting up the audio and computer equipment
inside the Ruritan clubs social hall, his wife Linda lays out the
prepared chuck wagon breakfast on folding tables. This
breakfast often includes coffee, fresh fruit, bagels, scrambled eggs,
sausage and gravy.
In addition to preparing the chuckwagon` meals or the Fe
weekly worship services, Linda attends a Wednesday night Bible
study and frequently shares her testimony of surviving a recent
bout with breast cancer.
God motivates Cowboy Church, and we just love it, she said.
Theres a big hole in your day if you miss a service.
Annette Franke of Mathias, W. Va., often helps Linda with the
chuck wagon breakfast.
28 / CURIO 2012
CURIO 2012 / 29 CURIO 2012 / 29
A Cowboy Church attendee for almost a year, Franke says the
church has strengthened her relationship with God.
I actually get something out of church now, Franke said. I feel
like Gods coming down and speaking directly to me.
As attendees walk in for their 9 a.m. meal, theyre greeted with
hellos and good mornings from Franke, Linda and a few
others, most of whom are dressed in the casual attire of blue jeans
and T-shirts. Before they eat, all attendees and Bell form a tight
circle and join hands for a prayer.
At 10 a.m., everyone takes their seats in folding chairs, placed in
multiple rows in front of a the cowboy version of a pulpit a
wooden chest adorned with carvings of horseshoes that form the
shape of a cross.
Behind the pulpit stands Bell and his bandwagoneers Angie
Hamilton and Stan Bennett, praise and worship leaders who direct
the worship songs.
Bandwagoneer is one of several cowboy terms used within
Cowboy Church. Other terms include, nighthawk, an attendee
who watches over the herd or the ministry through prayer, and
the cowman, a reference to Bell because hes the boss who runs
the operation of the herd.
The cowboy lingo contributes to the idea that this is Cowboy
Church and its different, Bell said.
After the worship service opens with a song and the Pledge of
Allegiance, the LCD television screen displays a biblical scripture,
which is then ollowed by a cowboy talk` translation, a simpliFed,
more easily understood interpretation of biblical scripture.
Attendees then break for a few minutes to give hugs and
handshakes with one another and to welcome any newcomers.
For another 20 minutes, attendees are led in song by Hamiltons
soprano voice thats interspersed with a subtle, country twang.
Unlike typical Christian worship services, attendees at Cowboy
Church can choose to stand or sit during worship songs.
Next is Bells sermon, which typically lasts between 20 and 30
minutes. It is largely based on biblical scripture and is mixed with
personal anecdotes and a few jokes.
In February, Bell traveled to Harrisonburgs Eastern Mennonite
High School to give an exhibition on horse roping, as well as a
short sermon on how the process of breaking, or joining up, a
horse is similar to entering a new relationship with God.
An avid horse rider for the last 40 years, Bell has ample experience
with pleasure riding, or riding horses on public trails.
1hroughout the year, Bell traels with his Fe horses to county
fairs and colleges, where he offers horse rides and rope exhibitions.
Last year at the Rockbridge County Fair in Lexington, Va., Bell
gave 588 horse rides to raise funds for the local 4-H club.
God told us to be proactive in our communities, Bell said. We
go anywhere were asked to go.
Some future plans for expanding Cowboy Churchs ministry
are training more people to lead services and implementing
more Cowboy Churches in Virginia and other states, including
California.
Wherever he delivers his sermon, Bell says he interacts with
people from all types of Christian denominations, many of whom
arent considered a cowboy or cowgirl.
Ive met Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, drug addicts and
alcoholics. At Cowboy Church theres no kind of norm.
Everybody is somebody and Jesus Christ is Lord.
30 / CURIO 2012
CURIO 2012 / 31
STORY BY ALYSE DiNAPOLI & GRANT BECK / PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE DAILY NEWS-
RECORD AND JMU SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
Hey, if youre going to arrest all my friends, you have to arrest
me, too, said Rochelle.
Rochelle was taken into custody and spent the rest of the night
in jail. His decision to turn himself into police would make him a
part of the group that would be known as the Madison 7.
The spring of 1970 was a turbulent time for college and university
campuses. Anti-war sentiment was spread among students across
the country, as seen in the Kent State shootings, where National
Guardsmen killed four students on May 4.
All the campuses across the nation were just exploding, said
Rochelle. Campuses were shutting down before the end of the
semester.
It was in this environment that a protest over the dismissal of
several professors at Madison College morphed into a seven-year
legal battle.
December 1969
James McClung was an English professor who had taught at
Madison College for less than two years when, in December 1969,
the administration did not reappoint his position for the 1970-71
FIGHT
Madison Colleges
f o r
CHANGE
term. This was not an uncommon practice for new professors
who were on a probationary status, like McClung, according
to a press statement at the time by college President G. Tyler
Miller. Professor Roger Soenksen, who wrote his dissertation on
the ensuing court case, Sword v. Fox, said the college at that time
reviewed three areas for tenure appointment: teaching, service
and scholarship. If a professor failed even one of these categories,
they may be denied tenure.
I believe that Madison College was at a crossroads of moving
away from [giving tenure to] any one and moving more toward a
terminal degree approach, said Soenksen, meaning tenure would
be awarded to those professors who earned the highest degree
in their particular academic Feld. 1hey may hae been ery
popular professors but did not have the scholarship the college
was looking for.
McClung appealed the decision and, after a review by a faculty
committee, the original decision stood. This decision by the
college not to renew his contract, along with fellow professors
Roger Adkins and Ethrick Rogers contracts, raised questions
among students about how administrative decisions affected their
education.
ON THE MORNING OF APRIL 27, 1970, Stephen Rochelle
of Leesburg, Va., walked into the Rockingham County Sheriff s
OFce. A 22-year-old senior at Madison College that year,
Rochelle challenged police oFcers who placed 30 students and
faculty members in custody for protesting on campus.
32 / CURIO 2012
Theres a lot of people who were affected
by it,` said Rochelle. 1hey Fred a bunch
of professors, or didnt renew their
contractsthere was a P.E. [Health and
Education] professor who would talk
to us [his students] and I guess he was
supportive of the anti-war movement that
was going on back then also.
APRIL 23, 1970
As temperatures steadily rose throughout
the spring semester, so did tension
among students and the administration.
On Thursday, April 23, 1970, roughly
300 students attended a demonstration,
registered with the college 48 hours in
advance, around Gibbons Hall that was
meant to facilitate dialogue regarding
college policies.
The demonstration was scheduled to end
at 10 p.m., but several students made their
way to Miller`s oFce in \ilson lall and
planned to stay overnight in hopes of
talking with him in the morning.
James Fox, dean of student services, arrived
to tell the students that no demonstration
had been scheduled for Wilson Hall that
evening and that those students present
could face suspension or expulsion.
McClung, who was present at Wilson,
justiFed the students` demonstration by
stating that the students went to Wilson
Hall to wait to see Dr. Miller and just to sit
and talk.
He mentioned it was supposed to be a
free university teach-in but there were too
few students for it to come off.
Students left soon after, but they did not
feel that their voices had been heard. They
tried to register a demonstration in Wilson
Hall on Sunday, April 27, but their request
was denied.
1hroughout the weekend, nyers were
slipped under the doors of rooms in
residence halls stating that an unauthorized
all night vigil would be held in Wilson
Hall on Sunday night to support the rights
of both students and professors who
would not be welcomed back to Madison
College after the academic year.
Part of the message read, On Monday
morning we will try to see our president
about the professors who are leaving this
year and next, about rights, and about the
vanishing liberties of students and faculty
alike. Help return justice to Madison.
The message resonated.
APRIL 26-27, 1970
At 9:15 p.m. on Sunday, April 26, about 50
students stood in the lobby of Wilson Hall.
An additional 100 students gathered on
the front steps. It was a quiet atmosphere,
meeting the expectations of the vigil
it was promoted as, rather than a hostile
protest, according to reports Fled by the
college administration.
An offcer confronts students in Wilson Hall during the April 26 protest.
CURIO 2012 / 33
l heard a bunch of my buds were over there and offc|a|s were g|v|ng
them a hassle, I didnt even know the protest was going on at the time, so I
hightailed it over there to give them support.

STEPHEN ROCHELLE
1970 Mathmatics major
Fox gave a speech to students around 10
p.m., telling them they were disobeying
a college handbook regulation stated
that demonstrations could not take place
indoors or without 48 hours notice.
When he referenced the page number
in the handbook that proved they were
trespassing, students started laughing,
according to reports Fled by college
administration.
Rochelle and other students were unaware
of the growth of the protest until word
began to spread across campus.
I heard a bunch of my buds were over
there and oFcials were giing them a
hassle, said Rochelle. I didnt even know
the protest was going on at the time, so
I high-tailed it over there to give them
support.
Undeterred by chain locks and the brief
speech by the dean, several students
crawled through windows in the
auditorium and bathrooms, encouraged
by those who were already inside.
It was apparent that they were resolved to
do what they had committed themselves to
do, Fox wrote in a statement addressed
to Miller in regards to the sequence of
the nights events. Many of them were
almost irrationally cheerful, while others
were calm and attentive to my comment as
I read my statement.
Thirty protestors, including professors
McClung and Adkins, remained in jail until
they were arraigned on Monday afternoon.
1he courtroom was Flled with almost 150
supporters. Applause rang out as the judge
read each of the arrested students names.
McClung received the most raucous
applause. Supporters jeered when Judge
Porter R. Graves Jr. stated that the peace
and dignity of the commonwealth had
been violated. Rainey made his persistence
known as he told the judge that the group
intended to hire American Civil Liberties
Union attorney John C. Lowe. Wearing
a black academic gown and black band
around his head, he lectured reporters
about a lack of respect on behalf of the
oFcers during the protest.
According to an April 28, 1970, article
in the Daily News-Record, Rainey told
reporters, It was so hot [in the vans], we
could not breathe. I feel that some of our
rights were violated. The way we were
treated was not very hospitable.
APRIL 27-APRIL 30, 1970
Despite rumors of a massive
demonstration on Monday night in
response to the arrests, only a brief
rally was held in support of the arrested
students and professors. On Thursday,
April 30, Fox and 500 students held a
formal discussion in Wilson Hall regarding
longstanding grievances with the college,
as well as the recent arrests. Students
expressed skepticism of the presidents
seemingly unjustiFed and excessie power
in regards to the selection of faculty and,
thus, students education.
On April 29, a Daily News-Record article
quoted senior Cindy Coolbaugh expressing
her discontent of Madisons restrictions.
I am told where to walk, what time I
should come in with my dates and what I
should think, said Coolbaugh.
At the meeting, students suggested
forming a voting council that included
administration, faculty and students that
would review academic policies.
Many in the Harrisonburg community did
not empathize with the protesters` cause
and chalked up the incident up to the trend
of martyrdom-seeking youth.
A student
protester
fashes a
peace sign
from inside
police van.
34 / CURIO 2012
I stand up for things. I saw a great injustice going
on with my fellow students, and I stood up.
Ah, fashion has come to the Madison
College campus, one reader wrote in a
Letter to the Editor published in the Daily
News-Record. Now, Madison can say that
it, too, has its share of student protestors,
each with a real, honest-goodness-police
record.
Another reader expressed disgust that
a trivial administrative decision sparked
students anger, stating that, the complaint
of one professor was reviewed by an
impartial faculty committee which found
the college had acted properly, referring
to McClungs appeal.
May 15, 1970
McClung and 22 students pled not guilty
in Rockingham County Court on May
15, but a local judge convicted them of
trespassing. 1hey were all Fned >100,
though most o the students` Fnes were
reduced to $25. Several knew immediately
they would appeal the decision, but Lowe
wanted to make it clear that, by appealing,
they faced more severe punishment if the
jury found them guilty.
We dont need 26 people for a test case
you are not copping out if you stop here,
said attorney Lowe, according to a Daily
News-Record published the day after the
trial.
The seven students who appealed were
referred to as the Madison 7.
At question were the First Amendment
rights of students at a college or university.
I think they were strongly convinced
they had First Amendment rights to be in
Wilson Hall, said Soenksen.
The Madison 7 appeared in Rockingham
Circuit Court to appeal their trespassing
coniction. 1heir decision backFred,
however, and the jury handed down $500
to >1,000 Fnes, as well as six- to nine-
month jail sentences for Rainey, McClung
and Rochelle. The severe punishments
issued by Rockingham County may have
been a renection o the general public`s
opinion toward college protests, according

STEPHEN ROCHELLE
1970 Mathmatics major
An offcer wielding a police
baton escorts a protester into the
Rockingham County Jail.
CURIO 2012 / 35
to Soenksen.
I do believe there is a special point when
students have to sit in a local court, said
Soenksen. Its sort of a town versus
gown mentality.

October 5, 1970
The Madison 7 appealed to the U.S.
District Court, arguing that Madison
Colleges rules trampled their First
Amendment rights. The handbook stated
that any demonstration needed to be
registered 48 hours in advance and cannot
be held inside any building. Judge Robert
R. Merhige Jr. ruled in the students favor
and declared that the reasoning behind
the rules was unconstitutional; the First
Amendment protects spontaneous and
unplanned activities, and a blanket-
ban over indoor demonstrations is
unconstitutional just because individuals
wish to use an indoor forum.
The victory was short-lived, however.
College oFcials appealed to the 4th
District Court and the judges ruled in favor
of the original ruling handed down by
Rockingham County. The judges deemed
the 48-hour registration and the indoor
protest rules challenged by the students
appropriate in light of protecting College
property and the educational process.
The court awarded that the [48-hour]
registration period almost provided a
cooling-off period in which cooler heads
might prevail, said Soenksen.
In December 1971, the U.S. Supreme
Court, in a 5-2 decision, denied the writ of
certiorari Fled by the students to hae their
case heard. 1he group paid their Fnes,
and six years later, Rainey, McClung and
Rochelle began serving their jail sentences.
Rochelle was in a work-release program
when Virginia Gov. Mills E. Godwin
issued the trio a pardon after serving three
months.
I hollered very loud and happily, said
Rochelle of learning about his pardon.
Scared everybody at work.
The case had little effect on changes to
administrative policies regarding students
rights to assemble at Madison College, and
several other Virginia schools contacted
Madison College for details pertaining
to their student handbook regulations,
according to Soenksen.
Although the protesters at Madison
College lost their legal battle and failed
to affect lasting change in the academic
policies at Madison College, Rochelle
beliees that it was a battle worth Fghting.
I stand up for things, said Rochelle. I
saw a great injustice going on with my
fellow students and I stood up.
Police offcers and Madison College offcials prepare arrest warrants as students sit in at Wilson Hall.
36 / CURIO 2012
Its no secret:
Southerners love sweets. Whether
its a hefty serving of homemade
apple pie ( la mode, of course) on
a warm summer evening or a slab
of decadent pound cake during
the holidays, we all crave a bit of
indulgence. But what to do about
your everyday sweet tooth?
Not to worry.
Weve compiled a list of our favorite
bakeries in the Valley. All of these
treats are made with care and an
extra dose of sweetness. The best
part? With so many great choices,
you`re bound to Fnd a sweet treat
close by.
SWEET SPOTS
STORY BY AMANDA CASKEY & AMBER LOGSDON / PHOTOS BY BRANDON PAYNE
CURIO 2012 / 37
CINNAMON BEAR
BAKERY
Hours
Monday Friday: 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
L
ocated just off of James Madison Universitys east campus,
Cinnamon Bear Bakery and Deli offers a wide variety
of baked goods for breakfast, lunch and dinner. One of their
bigger draws includes their large sandwich menu, with 24
made-to-order sandwiches.
Not feeling what they have on the menu? Feel free to build
your own sandwich with a choice of meats, cheeses and breads.
Each day, Cinnamon Bear has different quiche specials, which
come with a side pasta or garden salad.
Because of its proximity to the JMU campus, its quickly
becoming a hit with students looking to escape the call of East
Campus Dining Hall and Festival.
Originally founded by Susan Fanella 25 years ago, Cinnamon
Bear was recently bought by cousins Kate Magri and Matt
Snyder.
They were both surprised and pleased with the positive
reaction theyve gotten from the Harrisonburg community.
All of the road bumps that have come are pretty small, said
Synder. 1he posities are deFnitely outweighing the negaties.`
Snyder says he enjoys being his own boss and working with a
partner, calling it an invigorating feeling.
The recipes, such as the cinnamon buns and sandwiches,
currently being served at Cinnamon Bear are the originals when
the store Frst opened. loweer, Magri and Snyder are planning
on changing the menu to renect the change in management.
Were adding weekly specials. Weekly sandwich, weekly salad,
weekly soup. Just keeping everything fresh, said Synder.
Their most popular item is hard to determine for Magri. She
says theres not one thing that really outshines the rest of the
items in terms of sales.
One thing they have that other bakeries dont is fresh baklava.
One of our employees [is] Turkish and gave us this really
great recipe for baklava, Magri said. You need to try it. Its
amazing.`
600 E University Blvd, Harrisonburg
(540) 433-2867
38 / CURIO 2012
Hours
Monday Friday: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Saturday: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
49 W Water St. Suite A, Harrisonburg
(540) 433-2253
O
ver the past seven years, Shanks Bakery has become a
staple among families in the Harrisonburg community.
Owner Janet Shank, along with her husband, has had the
pleasure o watching the area around her grow and nourish
since opening her bakery on Water Street.
Theres a dance studio down the block, and when the girls
come out after their lessons, their parents always bring them in
to give them a treat, said Shank.
Its traditions like these that have helped Shank and her
husband become such an integral part of the downtown scene.
Its gotten to the point where I know exactly what someones
going to order when they come in, said Shank.
Boasting not only a full menu of freshly baked breads, pies,
cookies, muFns and other pastries, Shank`s also has a ull
coffee shop, offering a variety of drinks to wake up the body
on those sleepy mornings. For the afternoon-to-evening crowd,
they provide croissants, quiches and homemade soups.
Shanks brings unique kinds of breads to the table literally.
One recipe for white sourdough is a gift from her daughter-in-
law. Its origins lie in the Amish community.
Shank also keeps Shoony Pie, a molasses pie, in her cases. 1his
is an uncommon treat that Shank prides herself on.
To keep things local, Shanks sells their baked goods and coffee
at the Harrisonburg Farmers Market. Their coffee beans come
from nearby provider Lexington Coffee Roasters, with bags of
beans available for purchase at the bakery.
A staple of the Shanks menu is their chocolate chip cookie. It
joins their other cookie selections of snickerdoodle, sugar and
molasses crinkle cookies.
SHANKS BAKERY
CURIO 2012 / 39
49 W Water St. Suite A, Harrisonburg
(540) 433-2253
T
heresa Bergida makes all her products with health in mind.
These baked products, made of fresh fruits and nuts, are
made without nour and excessie sugar, giing gluten-ree eaters
a tasty alternative.
But dont call it fruitcake. These cakeless cakes blend dried
fruit, dates, sweetened coconut and a variety of nuts for a
delightful treat even the most health-conscious of people can
enjoy.
Its a gluten-free product but other gluten-free products are
trying to imitate a regular wheat product, said Bergida. This
product appeals to everyone, it just happens to not have any
nour in it, it`s not trying to imitate anything.`
Bergida sells her product in health stores and coffee shops
around the Valley, where customers can typically Fnd small
,about the size o your palm, heart-shaped tastes called leart
Beats, with or without a decadent chocolate coating. Orders for
larger loa sizes and special orders can be made online.
Ive had someone who wanted a birthday cake made, so I was
able to do that, said Bergida.
Twin Hearts Bakery also takes special orders for people who
might be lactose intolerant or allergic to a certain nut or fruit.
Approved by the Department of Agriculture to bake from her
home, Bergida uses her own kitchen and dining room as her
bakery and recruits her family as her helpers.
TWIN HEARTS
BAKERY
540-631-9164
www.twinheartsbakery.com
Hours Vary
Locations see below
1hey`e been really supportie, at times it`s been kind o crazy,`
said Bergida. Theyre always coming up with great little ideas
for marketing and things.
Though these sweet treats can be found in coffee shops year-
round, the busiest times of year are during the holidays. Bergida
says many people order loaves for their families for Christmas,
buy large quantities of Valentines Day treats (in the heart
shape, o course, and an Laster Lggstraaganza,` which is an
assortment pack of egg-shaped treats made with different nuts,
such as almonds, walnuts and pecans.
Orders made online are shipped anywhere in the country as
soon as possible and arrive fresh to customers. Bergida also
meets locals in Front Royal to deliver products by hand.
Bergida has considered offering her products for fundraising in
local schools as a way to help raise money for charities. In the
future, Twin Hearts would like to expand to more coffee shops
in the Valley, along the Dulles Corridor and in the D.C Metro
area.
Locations
Front Royal Better Thymes Natural Foods, Daily Grind on Main
Street, Handy Marts, The Good Life Gift Shop
Winchester Daily Grind at Abrams Crossing, Espresso Bar &
Caf in the Old Town Walking Mall, Handy marts, Throx Market
Middleburg Cuppa Giddy Up
Gainesville Deja Brew Coffee House
40 / CURIO 2012
T
he smells o sugar and cake batter Fll the air as soon as you
walk into the Sweet Tooth Bakery in the heart of Winchester.
In a small corner shop, Joyce McDaniel and her team of bakers and
decorators have been whipping up treats for the Valley since 1984.
After moving to the current location six years ago, McDaniel says
business immediately went up about 20 percent and has steadily
increased.
A large display case greets visitors with an array of sweet treats.
Sweet Tooth offers all kinds of desserts, from traditional sugar
cookies ,a best-seller, to deliciously unconentional naored
cupcakes like Key Lime and Cotton Candy (the Creamsicle is
a must-try tart orange cake combined with a creamy vanilla
frosting provides the right amount of sweetness without being
overpowering). Anything chocolate is rich and decadent.
However, they are most known for their made-to-order cakes.
Decorated free-hand or constructed using edible images, each cake
is special and unique to that particular order. Sweet Tooth can even
SWEET TOOTH
BAKERY
3034 Valley Ave., Suite 110, Winchester
(540) 667-6155
Hours
Tuesday - Friday: 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Saturday: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
do 3-D cakes in any shape from turtles to trucks. The best part?
\ou can get any kind o naor or theme. lrom coconut to 1res
Leches, and birthdays to retirements, McDaniel has gotten just
about every request imaginable.
The store also sells tools such as pans, food coloring, cake toppers,
candy molds and other candy making supplies for those who do
their own baking. Seeing the tools in the store can also help people
who come in to place an order get an idea of what exactly they
want.
As is expected, holidays are the busiest times of year, especially
wedding season. With 60 orders going out on a typical Saturday,
McDaniel stays busy but is happy with the amount of new and
returning customers.
Its mostly by word of mouth, said McDaniel. We hope people
enjoy our cakes and that we can make it special for them. We want
the cake to make the party.
CURIO 2012 / 41
WITH SMILES
C
kies
LATE-NIGHT
STORY BY AMY CURTIS / PHOTOS BY BRANDON PAYNE
CURIO 2012 / 41
42 / CURIO 2012
But after surveying his potential student
customers and Fnding this market niche,
Davidsons passion for business brought
cookies back to the table when he found
free time to open his company during the
fall of 2007. Since graduating in 2009,
Davidsons Campus Cookies has provided
Harrisonburg with late-night warm, gooey,
made-to-order cookies ever since, and
experienced a slew of business changes
along the way.
\hen Campus Cookies Frst opened under
the name Craving Cookies, Davidson was
the sole employee: He baked, packaged
and delivered every cookie ordered and
was responsible for all of the marketing.
Campus Cookies now has 24 employees
and has expanded to include a branch in
Blacksburg that caters to Virginia Tech
students.
Davidson currently plays four roles. Hes
the regional manager for both sites, CEO
for the company and the assistant manager
for Virginia Tech. Hes responsible for
making sure customers enjoy their Campus
Cookies experiences at both locations,
which he sees as key to long-term success.
There will always be system error and
human error, no matter how much you
train the employees and invest into
developers, said Davidson. Ive handled
problems all over the board, small to big,
but 99.9 percent of our customers come
away from us with a positive experience.
With the additional location in Blacksburg,
Daidson emphasized the importance
of policy, procedure, contracts and
dependable management. He picked
Blacksburg as the next location because
Virginia 1ech has a large, centralized
campus similar to the JMU market.
In the near future, Campus Cookies will
introduce three new naors o cookie
cakes. Their revamped text messaging
system will now be able to send texts to
gift senders. Davidson plans to expand and
add two more Campus Cookies locations
in the next three years, although the exact
plans are still cookie conFdential - you
can make a good guess when you think of
the logistics, said Davidson.
He always keeps a day-one mindset when
solving problems in his business.
You must always be evolving and
creating value, said Davidson. Never
take anything for granted, and always
keep moving forward in order to remain
competitive.
Davidson said the success of Campus
Cookies has nothing to do with cookies,
but with offering variety and quality service.
Customers like the novelty of having fresh
cookies delivered to anywhere there is
emotion: girlfriend/boyfriend, parent to
student. Gifts are a very important part
to our business model, said Davidson.
We had to create loads of value additive
features to make us more than just cookie
delivery. We had to create an experience.
Late-night hours appeal to students.
Campus Cookies delivers until 1 a.m. on
Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, until 2 a.m.
on Wednesday and Thursday, and until 3
a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
I think that being a cookie delivery service
is pretty unique in itself, said sophomore
French major Madeline Hennicke. I found
out about Campus Cookies pretty quickly
after coming to JMU because theyre the
go-to treat or late-night snack for a lot of
JMU students.
Hennicke typically orders Campus Cookies
due to a spur-of-the-moment craving, and
likes that they deliver late every night. My
W
hen business management major Scott Davidson proposed a JMU cookie
delivery company as the business model for a team project, its most promising
eatures didn`t Ft the class requirements and they set the idea aside.
The cookies are
always warm when
they are delivered
so you know they
were made fresh.

KELLY OVERSTREET
Junior, James Madison University
CURIO 2012 / 43
AMY CURTIS is a senior SMAD
major with a concentration in
journalism. She has interned as
a video editor with Richmond
CenterStage. She has also interned
with and been published in the
magazine Cooperative Living. She
has also worked on Madison 101
as a writer, photographer and
videographer. After graduation, she
hopes to someday work abroad and
will continue to enjoy the adventure
that is life.
aorite cookie would deFnitely be the
raspberry shortcake, but to be honest, I
like them all, said Hennicke.
Chocolate chip cookies are the most
popular with customers, according to
Davidson.
He makes up most of the new cookie
naors and recipes, but also occasionally
lets customers vote using surveys on
different types of cookie.
Campus Cookies offers more than 20
varieties of cookie, as well as brownies,
cinnamon rolls and customizable cookie
cakes. Customers can also add milk, ice
cream or dipping sauces to any order. The
Campus Cookies website and Facebook
advertise daily specials. Different care
package options include balloons and
Campus Cookies apparel, gift cards and
accessories.
Gabe Fuentes, a junior business major,
has been working for Campus Cookies
or seen months. OFcially he`s a deliery
driver but Fuentes said that most Campus
Cookies employees do a bit of everything.
Fuentes also bakes and packages cookies.
He described Davidson as a really cool,
fun boss, and Campus Cookies as a laid-
back, fun work environment.
It`s diFcult to get a job at Campus
Cookies, because everyone wants to work
there, said Fuentes.
Fuentes used his connections with friends
who were already employed by Campus
Cookies to his beneFt to secure a job there
himself.
On any given night, Campus Cookies
generally Flls 50 orders.
Sometimes you have to deal with really
drunk people, said Fuentes. But
sometimes people ask you to play fun
jokes, and thats something that were very
willing to do.
One of Fuentes favorite on-job memories
was pretending to be a Chinese delivery
man at an unsuspecting apartment at the
request of a customer.
Junior psychology major Kelly Overstreet
orders Campus Cookies monthly.
The cookies are always warm when
they are delivered so you know they were
made fresh, said Overstreet. I like that
they have all kinds of cookies; traditional
cookies like chocolate chip, and the more
expensive cookies, like chocolate peanut
butter.
Since the initial cold reception his early
business model received in class, Davidson
said he has no regrets.
Ive learned from my mistakes, and am
glad that I sacriFced so much o my time
to give Campus Cookies the chance it
deserves, Davidson said. I will never
forget what I have had to do to get to
this point and will not take anything for
granted.
44 / CURIO 2012
HISTORIC
HIKES
STORY AND PHOTOS BY BETH COLE & JORDAN PYE
VALLEY
SHENANDOAH
of the
44 / CURIO 2012
CURIO 2012 / 45
VALLEY
SHENANDOAH
In the Shenandoah Valley, these stories go back for generations. Prominent peaks and
sites on the mountain ranges set the scene for battles during the Civil War. Trails in the
Shenandoah National Park and George Washington National Forest were built in part by
the Civilian Conservation Corps founded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to create
jobs during the Depression. Across the Valley, backpacking and camping excursions
immerse hikers in the Appalachian wilderness where they can follow the footsteps of
soldiers, pioneers and presidents. Here are some of the scenic and historic hikes within
just an hours drive of Harrisonburg.
EVERY TRAIL HAS A STORY BEHIND IT.
CURIO 2012 / 45
46 / CURIO 2012
SIGNAL KNOB
The Signal Knob trail in the George Washington National
Forest leads to a panoramic overlook of the Valley on the
northern tip of the Massanutten Mountains. The summit looks
out over the town of Strasburg. During the Civil War, both Union
and Confederate troops used the knob to survey each others
positions, and both sides used ags, lanterns and other signals
to communicate with troops in other parts of the valley.
The Confederate signal corps used the knob frequently
from 1862 to 1864 to communicate their status and positions
to friendly troops across the Valley. Confederates made the rst
strike in the Battle of Cedar Creek after identifying Union troop
positions from the vantage point, according to Bill Coughlin,
contributing editor of the Historical Marker Database.
To get to the trail from Harrisonburg, take Interstate 81 north
and take Exit 296 toward Strasburg. Follow VA-55 E John Marshall
Highway through town and through the third left turn at a trac
light onto East King Street, then drive ve miles until a right turn
on Fort Valley Road (Route 678). The main parking lot lies less
than a mile past the sign for George Washington Forest. The trail
begins on the right-hand side of the parking lot, and following
the orange trail route described by HikingUpward.com, it took
2 hours to reach the summit view of Signal Knob.
The orange trail continues from the summit and merges with
a longer blue trail that loops back to the parking lot, creating a
circuit around Meneka Peak that totals about 10 miles. The full
loop takes approximately six hours including a lunch break, so
plan to spend the whole day and get an early start to ensure
enough daylight hours to complete the hike.
The trail itself is very rocky with a few steep inclines in parts,
not recommended for bikes or dogs, so its hard to imagine
poorly-shod Civil War soldiers traversing the peak without a
struggle.
Mountain laurel encloses parts of the trail, large rocks lay
scattered across the switchbacks and pine needles litter the
ground at higher elevations. For a slightly shorter hike, after
reaching Signal Knob double back one mile and take the white
trail that bridges across the peak and connects with the blue trail
and back to the start.
During the Civil War, Furnace Mountain was a hot place
to be. At the top of the mountain was a furnace used by
Confederate soldiers during the Civil War to produce iron,
according to Michael Seth, a history professor at James Madison
University. Seth is a member of Potomac Appalachian Trail Club,
a volunteer organization that helps to maintain many of the
hiking trails in the Valley. The furnace was taken down years ago,
but Seth said that, especially during the winter, you can still nd
pieces of iron scattered around the trail.
Getting up there is also a bit of a historic trek. The Furnace
Mountain Fire Road, where the trail begins, was originally used
as the main road to Charlottesville, Seth said. When the National
Park was dedicated in 1935 the road was closed, but the road
was once the shortest route from Harrisonburg to the other side
of the mountains.
There are a few dierent ways to get to Furnace Mountain.
One is for the more rugged adventurist a 13-mile loop
starting at Browns Gap o Skyline Drive, circling around Austin
Mountain Trail to Furnace Mountain Trail and back via the
Trayfoot Mountain Trail. A shorter 7-mile hike is also o Skyline
Drive via Trayfoot Mountiain Trail.
Summitpost.org suggests the simplest hike of all. From
Harrisonburg, take Port Republic Road to the end and turn left
at Browns Run Gap. This road turns into Furnace Mountain Fire
Road, and there are places to park along the side. Walk down a
little way until the post for Furnace Mountain Trail comes up. Its
about a 4-mile hike to the summit and back. While it is shorter,
the hike is steep, and there are places where the trail gets very
rocky and narrow.
If the diculty of the trail itself isnt breathtaking enough,
the views certainly are. Almost immediately as you make your
way up the trail, there are views of the valley below. From the
top, you can see the entire Valley area from Massanutten down
toward Staunton. The trail is beautiful year-round, from the
changing colors of fall to the mountain laurel, which lines much
of the trail, blooming in the summer.
FURNACE MOUNTAIN
46 / CURIO 2012
CURIO 2012 / 47
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RAPIDAN CAMP KAYLORS KNOB
SIGNAL KNOB
CURIO 2012 / 47
48 / CURIO 2012
A sleeping bag, a mat, two pounds of granola, trash
bags, a bottle of water, Aquamira tablets, a couple of
aspirin, at least one map and a pen for a total of 15
pounds.
Thats all Kate Kessler needed as she hiked all 2,184
miles of the Appalachian Trail. She tackled the trek in
sections, and after more than fve years of effort, she
completed the journey in 2006.
Kessler, a Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical
Communications professor at James Madison University,
passed away January 8. What she left behind, among
many things, was a love of the outdoors.
She was very personable and was always someone
to learn from and share the love of the outdoors with,
said Steven Irons, a senior computer science major and
former honors program student of Kesslers who joined
her on the Appalachian Trail.
Kessler taught a wide variety of classes, including an
honors course on the Holocaust and the rhetoric of a
democracy. She was also involved in many organizations
on campus, leading Safe Zones and participating in the
Honors Council.
She was very student-centered, student-oriented, said
Sarah OConnor, a WRTC professor and Kates friend.
She was involved with students in many ways, not just
in the classroom.
In 2009, Kessler designed an honors class around one of
her biggest passions the Appalachian Trail. She and
a group of students spent four weeks learning the trail.
They hiked part of the trail beginning at Rockfsh Gap
and ending at Hawksbill Gap for a total of 67 miles. Each
day the mileage increased, ending with a 33.5-mile hike.

I encouraged her to teach that class because I thought
her stories were so powerful, said Maureen Shanahan,
KATE KESSLER
associate director of the Honors Program, who frst
worked with Kessler in 2005.

Student participants in the course were able to experience
Kessler fully in her element: out on the trail.
I always felt she was excited about whatever discoveries
we made, she was very encouraging, said senior
biotechnology major Sarah Lott, who took the course.
Kessler told students there was no shame in being unable
to fnish the trail, but no one went home early.

She was always there making sure we were happy
with the experience, Lott said. I think sometimes we
exceeded her expectations.
The challenge in continuing the course will be fnding
someone with Kesslers experience and attention to detail,
Falk said. She knew how to keep students safe in the
wilderness and recommended the best socks for hiking.
Kate was very special at balancing the experience and
providing what students need, Falk said.
Kessler battled with fve different cancers in her lifetime,
including melanoma, fallopian and ovarian.
She had gone through several times of thinking that her
illness was terminal and then coming through it and being
okay, OConnor said. She was a very peaceful person.
OConnor said Kessler would often talk about her
experiences on the trail. She said when she couldnt fnd
lodging, she would cover herself with leaves and sleep off
the trail. She also shared stories of the people she met
along the trails, but she spent much of the hike solo.
She said she was never lonely, OConnor said. She
really seemed to enjoy the solitude and that time to think
and just be out in nature.
She really seemed to enjoy
the solitude and that time to think
and just be out in nature.

SARAH OCONNOR
JMU Professor
Photo courtesy of the Department of Writing, Rhetoric and
Technical Communication
CURIO 2012 / 49
KAYLORS KNOB
RAPIDAN CAMP
In the midst of the Great Depression, President Franklin
D. Roosevelt created a series of programs meant to bolster the
job market. Among them was a conservation program that
developed and maintained many of the natural parks in the
nation, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The Massanutten
mountain range is home to the original camp of the CCC, Camp
Roosevelt, created in 1933. Kaylor Knob is one of the original
trails designed by the group.
There are two ways to hike to Kaylors Knob summit. One
way, a roughly 6-mile hike, begins in the George Washington
National Forest. Take U.S. Route 33 east to U.S. Route 602.
Turn left onto Route 636; this road becomes Cub Run Road.
Shortly after entering the forest, an orange-blazed trail marks
Massanutten South Trail on the left, which begins the trail,
according to SummitPost.org. Follow until it forks after a stream,
following Second Mountain Trail, which is blazed blue. This trail
forks again where the Kaylors Knob Trail begins.
According to JMU history professor Michael Seth, if you are
looking for more history, white markers near the beginning of
the orange-blazed Massanutten Trail lead to the restored Boone
Run Shelter, one of the original shelters in the area. Also, at the
end of Cub Run Road, there are views of Catherine Furnace, a
restored iron smelter.
Another, shorter hike begins at the Overlook in Massanutten
Resort o Del Webb Drive and the hike is popular among
mountain bikers. The pink and blue trail to Kaylor Knob is
roughly 1.7 miles from the parking lot, so round-trip the hike is
a little over three miles and takes about two hours to complete.
The walk itself is not strenuous. The gradual incline and
almost sandy pathway make for an easy stroll for bikers, hikers
with dogs or families with children. Even before spring has fully
arrived, the vegetation along the path glows minty green from
the lichen that cover the damp limbs of shrubs, tree branches
and rotting logs. The view at the clearly marked Kaylor Knob
summit overlooks Petersh Gap and Hartman Knob, but on a
foggy day the clouds descend almost on the trail and obscure
the view. Fortunately, it still makes for a good picnic spot.
After a rough year in oce, President Hoover decided he
needed to escape the stresses of Washington, D.C. Of course, he
came to the Appalachians.
Rapidan Camp, also known as Hoover Camp, was built as the
rst presidential retreat in 1929. His wife, Lou Henry played a big
part in the development, helping to design the cabins around
the natural landscape. She described her vision for the camp as
a rather biggish establishment. Marines helped to build and
maintain the camp, and had their own camp near the Presidents
house. There were 13 cabins in the area that housed Hoovers
family, cabinet members and international guests, according to
the National Park Service (NPS) website.
Only three are still standing: The Brown House (as opposed
to the White House), where Hoover and his wife stayed, The
Prime Ministers House, where the British Prime Minister stayed,
and The Creel.
Hoover certainly knew how to pick a vacation spot. The 1.5-
mile hike to the camp begins across from the Milam Gap parking
area on the Appalachian Trail. Its a mild hike, with a couple of
tricky spots where the trail crosses over the streams and at Big
Rock Falls. Mill Prong Trail leads down into the camp area.
Gravel paths lead to various houses and landmarks within
the site, including the Prime Ministers House and a giant outdoor
replace Hoover used for photo opportunities. The rst house on
the trail, The Creel, was once used by White House aides and is
now being used to house NPS sta, according to signs at the site.
Hemlock Run, a small stream that runs through the camp,
was not a convenient work of mother nature that just happened
to enhance the camp. Hoover created this articial stream by
diverting it from Laurel Prong. The stream was also supposedly
stocked with sh whenever Hoover came to visit.
CURIO 2012 / 49
50 / CURIO 2012
Valley
Valley Crop Mobbers clear out weeds and rocks from the soil.
50 / CURIO 2012
STORY BY AMY CURTIS / PHOTOS BY CHRISSY SKUTNIK
E
A
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CURIO 2012 / 51
The student group is best known for its annual celebration of
Earth Week, which took place this year on February 6-10. Both
weeks were Flled with ree actiities including a community bike
ride, yoga, deep ecology workshops and other events that were
open to all students and the community, promoting sustainability
and environmental awareness.
Although Earth Week takes place once a year, the members of
E.A.R.T.H. Club sustain momentum for green-conscious causes
year-round.
Before I joined E.A.R.T.H. Club, I didnt even consider being a
farmer, Chelsea Biagioli, a sophomore social work major, said.
E.A.R.T.H. Club has changed my perspective on how to have a
more environmentally conscious way of life.
Since the national Student Environmental Action Coalition
conference formed E.A.R.T.H. Club in 1989, the environmental
group at James Madison University focuses on promoting
sustainability and community. E.A.R.T.H. (Environmental
Awareness and Restoration Through our Help) Club members
educate themselves and raise awareness about a variety of
environmental issues. The Club itself serves as a space where
students can delve into environmental activism through
involvement with national campaigns and a catalyst for the
creation o on-campus campaigns and related organizations.
Ryan Bowen, a senior philosophy major, Frst became inoled
with E.A.R.T.H. Club because he wanted to work with people
who are similarly environmentally conscious. He plans to
pursue a career in environmental advocacy post-graduation,
but since fall 2011 hes been working with E.A.R.T.H. Club to
develop a proposal for a Green Fund to submit to JMUs business
administration. The current proposal would add $5 to the cost
o tuition and deelop a sum o money used speciFcally or
environmental issues.
By April 13 Bowen had collected 616 signatures from students
supporting the proposal. The administrations response will
determine how long it could take to implement a Green Fund
at JMU. A previous Green Fund proposal was ultimately vetoed
for the 2007/2008 school year, despite the Student Government
Association passing a bill of opinion and referendum.
Money from a Green Fund can be used in several different ways.
The Green Fund in place at William and Mary has provided bottle
reFll stations and a community garden, and Virginia 1ech and
the University of Virginia are attempting to establish their own
Green lunds. Proposed uses include weatherizing buildings to
increase energy eFciency, proiding on-site renewable energy
with wind turbines or solar panels, and for educational purposes
and campaigns.
Bowen`s additional ocus is on the structural and organizational
development within the club. He wants to make sure that the way
that E.A.R.T.H. does things is sustainable and effective, and that
people are empowered in their experience.
Through my work with E.A.R.T.H. Club, Ive learned to be
patient with the process of social change and with individual
people realizing such,` Bowen said. In order to create change, it
requires patience.
Other grassroots organizations that L.A.R.1.l. Club has
supported include Mountain Justice, dedicated to abolishing
mountaintop remoal and ocused speciFcally in the Appalachia
coalFelds. Members o L.A.R.1.l. Clurcb hae annually attended
Mountain Justice Spring Break and Mountain Justice Summer,
which are week-long training camps in West Virginia that further
educate about the detrimental impacts of mountaintop removal
coal mining.
Power Shift is an annual national conference that E.A.R.T.H. Club
has attended in Washington, D.C., lobbying for cleaner energy and
turning away from reliance on fossil fuels. Speakers at past Power
Shifts include Al Gore and Nancy Pelosi.
On campus, E.A.R.T.H. Club has sponsored environmental
documentary screenings and hosted speakers like the Beehive
Design Collective. E.A.R.T.H. held the sixth Festival Fest, an
all-day free music and sustainability awareness festival, on JMUs
lestial Lawn on April 21. L.A.R.1.l. Club also organizes an
annual Alley Cat themed scavenger hunt bike race to promote
the use of alternative transportation. For similar reasons,
E.A.R.T.H. also started No Drive Day, a day when students
are encouraged to walk, bike, or skateboard to class rather than
drive to campus.
In 2006, E.A.R.T.H. Club members joined with other clubs
in favor of clean energy to form the Clean Energy Coalition.
The Clean Energy Coalitions main goal was for JMU to move
toward clean energy and reduce its carbon footprint. In 2008,
that goal was oFcially realized when President Linwood l. Rose
signed the American College and University Presidents Climate
Commitment. A direct on-campus result of that commitment
was the formation of the JMU Institute for Stewardship of the
L
ong before James Madison University carved its green niche with environmental
stewardship and integrated science and technology, students created their own
ways to spread awareness and get involved through EARTH Club.
52 / CURIO 2012
Cycle Share is a separate JMU club that was developed in EARTH Club. With Cycle Share, JMU
students only need their JACard to rent a bike and helmet for two weeks. Tube & Lube complimentary
bike adjustments are also provided by Shenandoah Bike Co. at the Cycle Share rentals. Planning for
Cycle Share unoffcially began in 2007, and was frst seriously talked about 3 years ago. Cycle Share
opened during the 2010 fall semester. EARTH Club and Cycle Share member Emily Wyman says that
its a really exciting process to see [Cycle Share] grow so much in just a year. Their bike library
currently has 19 trek hybrid bikes in 4 different sizes, and there's a growing popularity and demand; all
of the bikes get rented out and members renew every week. Wyman says that most students are in
disbelief that its free to rent a bike. Wyman is excited to have growing membership outside of EARTH
Club as well as constant support from EARTH Club. She hopes that some day the university may take
Cycle Share over and make renting bikes an option for all students.
C
yc
le
S
h
a
re
52 / CURIO 2012
Natural World, which proposes steps
the university can take to become more
sustainable.
Also in 2008, E.A.R.T.H. Club becoming
one o 10 JMU organizations deemed so
signiFcant to the uniersity that they must
be budgeted front end.
JMU class of 2009 anthropology alumni
Marley Green stresses that it is important
or eeryone to recognize the power o
students, and said there should be more
students in decision-making roles at JMU.
Green says that students organized and
built a movement to say this is important
to us, and they raised awareness and
achieved their goals.
The Clean Energy Coalition started and ran
the Village Green Wars in 2009, promoting
energy conservation through a rivalry
among the residents in the village dorms
of JMU. After tallying weekly energy and
water use, the dorm that used the least
won a prize. 1he Clean Lnergy Coalition
also co-organized JMU`s RecycleMania,
a national waste reduction competition
between universities striving to be the least
wasteful. The Clean Energy Coalition also
won a $1,000 eco-grant from MTVs 2006
national Break the Addiction Challenge for
their promotion of clean energy.
JMU E.A.R.T.H. meets in Taylor
302 every Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
The Cycle Share program
allow
s students
to rent a bike and a helm
et for tw
o w
eeks
free of charge.
CURIO 2012 / 53
JM
U senior George Leisure uses a garden hoe
to prepare the soil for planting.
JMU EARTH Club member Emily Wyman plants
seeds with other Valley Crop Mobbers.
[Were] marginalized as hippie radicals, but thats really not the case.

OLIVIA MERRION
JMU SMAD MAJOR

E.A.R.T.H. Club has a unique dynamic

that provides support for environmental
students to urther dele into their speciFc
passions concerning sustainability. JMU
2011 alumni Alex Davenport hopes to
pursue a masters degree in environmental
advocacy and strives to bridge the gap
between social and environmental justice.
E.A.R.T.H. Club introduced me to a
world that Id read about in my [Justice
Studies] major, and knew the principles
of, but hadnt yet seen and experienced,
Davenport said.
As a member of E.A.R.T.H. Club, he met
people who he never would have otherwise,
and made the most of opportunities.
He worked closely with West Virginia
environmental activist Judy Bonds, who
earned the Goldman Lnironmental Prize
in 2003 for her work to end mountaintop
removal, and is featured in the 2007
documentary Mountaintop Removal.
Through his involvement with EARTH
Club he invited her to speak at JMU several
times.
Davenport says that one of the great
things about E.A.R.T.H. Club is that
there is a steady evolution to it because
it is consensus based and non-hierarchal,
because there are no oFcial leadership
positions but everyone is encouraged to
participate on all levels. As new members
join and others graduate, the speciFc
enironmental ocus changes to renect
new interests.

Olivia Merrion, a junior media arts and
design major, recently co-directed a
documentary with fellow E.A.R.T.H.
Club member John Picklap, who is also a
junior media arts and design major. Their
documentary, The Farm Course, followed
students enrolled in the JMU farm
internship program and supplemented
information about small scale local farms.
The Farm Course discusses the American
food system, and on a more local level, the
impact of various cultivation styles found
near Harrisonburg.
Whatever I end up doing in the future, I
hope that I keep an environmental focus,
Merrion said. Merrion describes herself as
passionate about environmental justice in
general, and wants to weave [her] passion
for environment and social justice into the
documentary framework to expose social
injustice.
Merrion said that E.A.R.T.H. Club
provides a real atmosphere of family and
community with.
|\e`re| marginalized as hippie radicals,
but thats really not the case, Merrion
said. \e deFnitely Fll the spectrum o
types of people because of [E.A.R.T.H.]
non-hierarchal structure. Theres a
very accepting feel, and very minimal
judgment.
54 / CURIO 2012
Y
DANK-U
Very Much
STORY BY ERIC W
AG
NER / PHOTOS BY CHRISSY SKUTNIK
CURIO 2012 / 55
Y
You might have seen it cruising around Harrisonburg: a brightly
painted yellow truck with a blue emblem with Dank-U printed
on its side. Or perhaps you may have spotted it sitting in the
University Outpost parking lot off Port Republic Road on the
weekends, the faint aroma of fried foods lingering around it while
hungry patrons line up to satisfy late-night cravings.
In either case, The Dank-U Truck is quickly becoming a popular
eatery in Harrisonburg. Established this past November by James
Madison University alumnus, CJ Friedman, Dank-Us specialty is
its pita pockets, served fresh and hot right out of the truck. With a
degree in international business and a minor in French, Friedman
Frst began cooking or riends and amily at age 13. Since then,
he has always had a fondness of cooking for others.
I realized my passions in lie and was able to integrate them
together, I love business and conducting it, said Friedman. Ive
always loved cooking for people as well.
Given Dank-Us mobile nature, Friedman used a combination of
word-of-mouth as well as social networking as a means to stay in
touch with his customer base. Using both Facebook and Twitter,
Friedman reached out to the community with online updates
ranging from special deals on certain foods, catchy songs found
on the Internet or optimistic quotes that Friedman hoped would
further convey Dank-Us underlying message and vision.
I like the Dank-U truck on Facebook, said senior Sean
Fetterman. I like it because it updates me on where it will be and
when it is open. I like the songs the owner puts up as well.
Friedman initially came up with the concept of operating his own
food truck business at the beginning of his senior year in 2011.
He recalled that during classes and on the weekends, the idea of
owning his own business was never far from his thoughts. What
started off as a college students idea to make a little extra money
on the weekends grew into the concept of The Dank-U Truck.
I developed the business plan in September [2011] with one of
my partners, Chris Ceccotti, said Friedman. My initial goal was
to get it open senior year.
It would not be until after graduation that Friedman was able to
fully invest his time into his dream. With investments made by
Ceccotti, Nick Passero and Larson Thune, three of Friedmans
close friends, as well as a local business owner, he was able to raise
the funds to begin his food truck endeavor.
I think it`s proFtable because the expenditures on their part
are low, said Anthony Pigninelli, a senior public policy and
administration major at JMU. I think food trucks in college
towns are a good idea.
Through the collaborative effort, Friedman and his investors
worked to bring Friedmans vision into reality.
We were able to work together and use our collective minds to
integrate the business plan that we developed, said Friedman.
With the backing of his investors, Friedman decided that the next
logical step would be to Fnd the right truck to suit his needs. le
dedicated hours of his time searching online for food trucks of
all shapes and sizes beore lriedman Fnally located the perect
match.
I ended up Fnding the big yellow winnie on Craigslist in
Lebanon, Maine, 25 minutes from my house in New Hampshire,
said Friedman.
Friedman declined to reveal the actual price of his purchase, but
he was able to acquire the truck just days before leaving on a study
I realized my passions in life and was able to
integrate them together, I love business and conducting
it. Ive always loved cooking for people as well.

CJ FRIEDMAN
founder and owner of The Dank-U Truck
56 / CURIO 2012
abroad trip to Paris. It was in Europe that Friedman created
the initial ideas for the items now seen on The Dank-U Trucks
menu.
I spent a great deal of time thinking about it, said Friedman. I
also traveled to Strasbourg and Amsterdam while I was abroad
where I was exposed to even more delectable treats. I think the
entire experience helped culminate everything Ive learned about
food and allowed me to create a menu that works beautifully and
deliciously with all the original danksters here at JMU.
But beore the menu was oFcially established, there were seeral
discussions on what types of food The Dank-U Truck should
specialize in or its patrons. lriedman oered his own ideas o
how to best appeal to customers.
We went from wraps to specialty burgers to subs, recalled
Friedman. And I just came up with the idea for the pita pocket.
Friedman said that the most popular item on the menu is the
Buffalo Danks.
The food was delicious, said Pigninelli. I got the Buffalo
Danks. It was an interesting combination of things that dont
normally go together, but it works.
Paying homage to D-halls iconic Buffalo Mash, Friedman
took inspiration from the idea and created a tasty meal consisting
of chicken, smashed french fries, homemade buttermilk ranch,
cheddar cheese and hot sauce.
The Buffalo Danks count for almost 50 percent of our
sandwich sales,` said lriedman. \e hae Fe sandwiches,
working on six or seven. We are adding new ones all the time.
All of the food served by The Dank-U Truck was freshly
prepared on a daily basis. Everything from the sauces to the
roasted red peppers were cooked by Friedman on the truck itself.
I love the name of the place, said senior Tyler Robinette. The
food is great and the owner is always friendly.
Friedman recalled that the initial title for his food truck was
simply known as The Danks.
Friedman explained that dank was casual slang among many
of his peers, and could mean anything from good cars to
good food. However, Friedman ultimately decided to go with
something that would be more easily identiFable with the public.
As time went on and he continued to brainstorm, Friedman
eventually changed The Danks into its current name, Dank-U.
Dank-U just sort of came into my head as Chris and I were
brainstorming on a Google doc, said Friedman. I noticed that
Dank-U could mean a whole assortment of things ...dank still
has that connotation meaning something that is awesome and
delicious for our generation, and the U could be in reference
to the university that were serving it all just came together
pretty perfectly.
Price range: $2 for a small coffee to $5 for a
frozen specialty
Location: Kinkos next to Bluestone Drive or
near Urban Exchange apartments
Food type: Beverages
Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Pun by 26 yoar-old Evan Buttorhold, tno Cooo Truok's
initial goal was to run a beverage truck to complement
other food trucks. Since it started rolling in July,
the Coffee Truck has served Harrisonburg and the
surrounding areas. As the name suggests, the most
popular drink on the Coffee Truck are the espressos
and brewed coffee. Different brews and specialties
include their frozen red eye and mocha, their sumatra
drip coffee, and a cortado, a mix of
2
/
3
espresso and
1
/
3
steamed milk.
Location:1110 Reservoir St.
Food type: Mexican
Hours:11:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m
Tacos El Primo arrived in Harrisonburg from California
in 2005. Tnoir taoo truok oan bo idontihod by tno
brightly colored teal paint used to decorate their
establishment. Tacos El Primo boasts authentic
Mexican food while keeping their dishes simple and
effective. Some of the most popular dishes include
their hand-wrapped burritos and the traditional taco.
Price range: $25 for four, $13 for half portions
Location: Bridgewater (Mondays), downtown
Harrisonburg (Tuesdays), Dayton (Wed.-Fri.), and
Bluestone Vineyard in Bridgewater every other Friday.
Food Type: Italian/ American/ Southwest
Hours: 11 a.m. to around 2 p.m. (hours variable)
Diane Rolls bright red caboose has been dishing up
some home cooking from her truck since it started
in Pennsylvania. Her meals and food types vary
by week, but some previous dishes include grilled
chicken with herbs and bruschetta pasta salad,
meatloaf with mashed potatoes, cheesesteaks,
reubens, Italian sausages and their signature dish,
cabooski fried cabbage and noodles also known
as Halushki or spaetzle.
Coffee Truck
Tacos El Primo
Mammas Caboose
CURIO 2012 / 57
\ith Fe dierent sandwich combinations,
Fe dierent homemade sauces and a ariety
of side orders to choose from, Friedman
was always experimenting with different
types of food in order to expand his menu
and reFne his cooking skills. lriedman
claimed that one of the most important
aspects of his job was being prepared for
the peak hours on the weekends in order to
keep things running smoothly. The busiest
time for Dank-U was typically late Friday
and Saturday nights between the hours of
11:45 p.m. to 3 a.m.
We like to set up right in the heart of the
JMU night scene so we always catch the
awesome partiers walking to their next
destination, looking for some dank eats on
their way, said Friedman. Our Sunday
Brunch is also very popular.
With the exception of occasional assistance
from a roommate or close friend, Friedman
is solely responsible for opening and
closing the food truck, preparing the meals
and maintaining the trucks condition.
Lerything rom reFlling propane tanks
to restocking inventory rests on the
entrepreneur.
Despite the long hours, Friedman takes it all
in stride with a smile.
People are always asking me, Well youre
working like 80, 85, 90 hours a week, doesnt
that suck? explained Friedman. My initial
response is always to say Id rather work 90
hours a week for myself than 60 or 50 hours
a week for someone elses dream. Id rather
work to make my own dreams come true.
In addition to swiftly growing popularity
among the community, The Dank-U Truck
enjoyed the patronage of numerous loyal
customers during the week, many of whom
lriedman knew on a Frst name basis.
I have a very consistent, awesome group
of regulars that come at least two or three
times a week, said Friedman. Every day
we have new customers coming saying that
theyre referred to by those regulars so
my regular customer base is growing while
my overall customer base is growing along
with it.
The Dank-U Truck remained open all week
with the exception of Mondays.
I typically sell out of all my foods on Friday
or Saturday nights, said Friedman.
Like any food service industry, food trucks
were regulated by law to conduct business
on private property. Friedman explained
that as of the beginning of March, he would
be paying for his location in the University
Outpost parking lot in order to continue
to conduct his business. He was also still
expected to uphold the standards of health
inspections and obtain a certiFcate o the
state of Virginia in order to operate his
food truck to ensure it follows health code
regulations.
As for plans for the future, Friedman
wanted to focus on establishing his current
location before any further expansion
would take place.
Eventually my goal is to spread Dank-Us
message across universities, said Friedman.
The message extends beyond food, its
trying to be the best and most positive
people we can be.
Id rather work 90 hours a week for myself than
60 or 50 hours a week for someone elses dream. Id
rather work to make my own dreams come true.

CJ FRIEDMAN
founder and owner of The Dank-U Truck
Friedman purchased the Dank Truck-U from a seller on Craigslist from Lebanon, Maine (price undisclosed). It now
spends weekend nights in the JMU Outposts parking lot catering to hungry students.
ERIC WAGNER is a senior SMAD
major with a concentration in journalism
and a minor in creative writing. He
was born in Fairfax, Va., and was
raised in Hackettstown, N.J.. Robert
is a contributing editor at Madison
Magazine, and aspires to write feature
articles for Outdoor Magazine.
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