Randy Mason
Stories by Randy Mason
The Weekend Starts Today
In just a few weeks, those dismal dog days of August will be upon us, and our will to live sorely tested. But not quite yet. In fact, this is a weekend chock full of life-affirming options. Chief among them, the return of Fringe. That’s the annual KC Fringe Festival, which kicks off Thursday. Twelve…
The Weekend Starts Today
This one’s tricky — it has to bridge a gap between the loose-limbed charm of Father’s Day and the balls-to-the-wall blowout known as the Fourth of July. Not to worry. There’s still plenty to do. It might start with a short road trip 40 miles west to Downtown Lawrence. There you can see what the…
The Weekend Starts Today
If last week’s musical tsunami left you a little woozy, I figure there’s really two ways to roll. Option 1) Call it the hair of the dog. That would put you at the grounds of Liberty Memorial on Saturday for this year’s edition of Rockfest. Who’s playing, you ask? Does it matter, I say. You’re…
Cary Esser: A Ceramist for the 21st Century
At age 19, Cary Esser flew alone from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to Kansas City, a place she’d never been. “When I got off the plane,” Esser recalled in a recent interview, “I just walked up to somebody and asked, ‘Can you tell me how to get to the Kansas City Art Institute?’” Esser had…
The Weekender
I’ve done the math. We have now crossed off 325 of 2015’s allotted days. The end game is truly upon us! So buck up, and grab some wassail. Or at least accept the fact that more and more of your weekend options will come with “holiday” somewhere in the description. Lighting With that in mind,…
The Learning Curve: Innovating education, in Kansas
A recent Kansas law allows up to 10 per cent of the state’s school districts to be designated as “Innovative,” allowing them to opt out of certain state regulations they deem unproductive or restrictive. Blue Valley and KCK, along with McPherson, Concordia and Hugoton, are the first five on board. Along with a waiver on some…
The Learning Curve: Ervin Early Learning Center
The Hickman Mills School District had a problem: Low-income kindergartners were arriving without the basics they needed to start school on the right foot. Solution? Revamp a dilapidated middle school building and provide high-quality, full day pre-K programming to every child in the district, free of charge. The first of four phases kicked off in February of…
The Learning Curve: Career Tech Education
In 2013, the PBS Newshour added Paseo Academy to its national roster of schools participating in the Student Reporting Labs project. Designed to increase teens’ understanding of today’s media landscape, the partnership also helps journalism students develop content which can be utilized for broadcast as part of the Kansas City Missouri School District’s Career Tech Education program….