St. Patrick’s Day (Night) in Kent

In order to get the news out on time, what follows are my hastily chosen and – for the most part – barely-if-at-all edited photos depicting a some typical Kent revelry, today drummed up in honor of our Irish roots…whether you have those or not.

As most of you know, Kent is willing and able to get festive for any near-plausible excuse, and that’s one of the things I love about this town. That said, what I’m finally learning after living here for more than 20 years is this: What I really love about this town are the students. As a photographer, I have a great excuse to interact with people – most particularly KSU undergrads – and the more I do local work, the more I am finding that this gives me an opening with many, who are usually quite willing to ham it up for me.

As I spend more time in front of these young men and women who are here to train for their futures, what I’ve discovered is that we have nearly 25,000 little gems – somewhat hidden in the open -  in our midst. In my recent experience, I am finding them delightfully open, eager, lively, friendly, non-judgmental and more than willing to engage with us Townies on a serious or playful level, even if we are twice their age or more. I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve been holding back all of these years, but the more I engage, the more I find we’ve got a treasure trove of human spirit calling Kent “home away from home.”

What touches me, though, is that I’m nearly convinced that most would welcome as much Townie-integration as we’re willing to offer. And so, as Kent palpably becomes more and more community-centric, the possibilities for a personal expansion seem to mathematically increase.

(Go, Kent!)

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(*Note: The last 5 photos are from my talented friend, Chris Conn, who joined me on this shoot.)

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