Moving to Paris
International Journalist
Murder I Wrote...About
Members of the campus community are mourning the loss of a mother, wife, friend and professor.
Mathematics Professor Martha “Bettina” Richmond, 51, was found dead in her van at Bowling Green Parks and Recreation Sunday, according to a Bowling Green Police Department press release.
Police were called to the recreation building’s parking lot, located at 225 3rd Ave., at about 11:30 p.m., according to the press release. They are investigating the death as a homicide.
Barry Pruitt, public information officer for the Bowling Green Police Department, said police had no further comment as of Monday afternoon.
The Richmond family declined comment Monday, according to a family friend who answered the phone at the Richmond residence.
Richmond was a professor at Western for 23 years.
Her husband, Tom Richmond, is also a math professor at Western.
Assistant Math Professor Molly Dunkum said it was a strange environment in the math department Monday.
James Barksdale, a transitional retiree in the math department, said Richmond always seemed to be in a good mood.
“She’d tell me a joke, and I’d tell her a joke,” he said.
Richmond was always well prepared and dedicated and she cared a lot about her students, Barksdale said. She was outspoken in a nice way.
He said the mother of two would always come by his office when selling Girl Scout Cookies.
“It really strikes home when it’s someone you work with and have known for a very long time,” Barksdale said.
Mark Robinson, assistant math department head, said the death was a shock to everyone.
Western counseling services will be available to faculty, staff, students and others who knew Richmond, according to a statement issued by the university.
Tough News
Internship Hell
Swine Flu Article
This is my first ever centerpiece article for any publication! I was very excited.
Some members of the Western community got in line early Monday morning to be among the first people at Health Services to get the swine flu vaccine.
Health Services received 400 doses of the vaccine last week after requesting 2,000 doses earlier this semester and asking for an additional 500 doses last week, said Terri Cunningham, Health Services marketing coordinator.
By 4 p.m. Monday, Health Services was out of the injection form of the vaccine and had 20 doses left of nasal spray form, said Stacie Sutter, Health Services business manager.
She said workers gave the vaccines to about 67 people per hour starting at 8 a.m. Monday.
About 100 people showed up for the vaccine within the first 30 minutes of Health Services opening.
Cunningham said people who weren’t members of the Western community were turned away Monday because the vaccines were meant for patients associated with the school.
“Of course we are going to focus on campus community,” she said.
Health Services officials expected between 500 and 600 people to show up to get vaccinated, Sutter said.
They had 100 doses of the swine flu injection specifically for high risk patients, including pregnant women and healthcare and emergency workers with chronic medical conditions, according to the Health Services Web site.
Health Services also had 300 doses of the vaccine in nasal spray form for patients not in the high risk group. Healthy people between 2 and 49 years old fall into that category, according to the Web site.
To organize the process Monday morning, each patient was given a number and a questionnaire which determined whether they were eligible for the injectable or nasal vaccine, Sutter said.
They were then called back in groups of five or 10 and separated again into four rooms to receive the vaccine individually.
Irvington junior Gibby Jones was among the early crowd.
“It’s so contagious, and it’s such a big issue,” she said. “I thought I had it because someone came into my house who was confirmed with the flu.”
The limited supply and rarity of the vaccine made Jones come early in the morning so she wouldn’t miss out, she said.
Children are among the most at risk for swine flu, according to Health Services’ Web site.
Monica Burke, an assistant counseling and student affairs professor, took her sons to get vaccinated Monday morning.
“I’ve just heard about the number of children (getting sick), and I want to be proactive,” she said.
Burke came to Health Services because she said the pediatrician she takes her children to in Bowling Green ran out of the vaccine a couple weeks ago.
Leitchfield senior Derrick Dennison, said his mother, who’s a nurse, has been pressuring him to get the vaccine.
“It’s pretty serious across the world, and I’d rather be safe than sorry,” he said.
Leaving the Country
Internship Mania
My Article From the College Heights Herald (Memorial)
By Spencer Jenkins | 14 October 2009
When friends of Farhat Hamidullah think of her, many of them remember her constant smiles.
Tonight, students, friends, faculty and staff honored the life of Hamidullah, a junior from Franklin, Tenn., who was killed in a car crash last week.
Members of the Western community met at the Guthrie Bell Tower for Hamidullah’s memorial service.
They wore buttons with Hamidullah’s face on them and green and burgundy memorial ribbons, her favorite colors, said Nur Azlisya Ismail, a junior from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Hamidullah was originally from Afghanistan. There was a wreath with Afghanistan’s flag, white roses and a Western homecoming queen banner at the memorial.
“She always wanted to be international homecoming queen,” said Jasmine Bowie, a junior from Germany.
Hamidullah died on the scene of the crash in Greene County on Interstate 81.
Victoria Ciorba, a sophomore from Moldova, was driving the car and suffered minor injuries.
Tarek Elshayeb, director of International Student and Scholar Services, talked about Hamidullah’s character in an e-mail.
“She was the model of an active, engaged and successful student for all WKU students,” he said in the e-mail. “Farhat will greatly be missed, always remembered and may she rest in peace.”
Hamidullah was born in Afghanistan, raised in Turkmenistan and immigrated to the United States, Elshayeb said. She spoke several languages, including English, Russian, Turkish and Uzbek.
Hamidullah was also a Spirit Master, president of the International Club and involved in Habitat for Humanity and other projects and organizations, according to a Western press release.
Owensboro junior Jessica Paulsen, a fellow Spirit Master, said Hamidullah’s background story of escaping a civil war in Afghanistan shows how strong she was.
“She had a spirit about her that was captivating,” Paulsen said.
Today, Afghanistan’s flag flew at half-mast in Hamidullah’s honor at the ISSS building.
Inside the building, there is a memory book where people can write their thoughts about Hamidullah.
“Mostly everyone would agree about her laughter, smile, cheerfulness and her smirks,” Ismail said. “I got to know her, and she welcomed me into her home.”
English Instructor Marie Guthrie remembers Hamidullah as a smart and outgoing woman.
“She always made international students feel at home when they were so far away,” Guthrie said.
Hamidullah’s name is Arabic and means happiness, Elshayeb said.
She would want nothing more than for her friends to be happy, he said.
The International Club is collecting donations to send to Hamidullah’s family to help with the cost of the funeral, Elshayeb said in an e-mail.
WKU Student's Memorial Service
This is the wreath standing at Farhat Hamidullah's memorial I covered today for the College Heights Herald. I'll have the full story or a link to the full story up later tonight. It's times like these when you reevaluate your life and realize, "Hey, I'm alive, things aren't so bad."Drunk Driving Aftermath
Prose of Mine
When I'm not writing journalistically, I tend to write prose passages that have to do with my life in some way or another. They may not seem like it, but everything I do write, relates to my own life. I once based a prose passage after an Edward Hopper painting entitled Nighthawks. Here it is.
Their happiness makes me cringe. It’s not that I don’t want them to be happy; it’s more complex than that. I envy them. I envy every kiss he steals from her, every cigarette he lights for her, I envy the love he feels for her.
“Oh darling, can’t you be a little bit more discrete,” she says pushing him away from her.
“I could try love, but I just can’t contain myself,” he chuckles back at her.
They laugh about their overly dramatic conversation as I vomit in my mouth. Envy, I repeat. Pure envy. He sits close to her in a Siamese twin-like fashion making promises without speaking. The smile on his face is genuine, not painted on like mine. He holds her soft delicate hand in his, His eyes say he loves her forever, his hands say never let go, and his lips pressed against her vibrant red lips promise fidelity.
I sit across from them in my dark little corner of the diner counter staring. They don’t feel my eyes for their eyes are the only ones that matter. But did I matter to anyone? What does my life even entail? I work a repetitive nine to five job screwing light bulbs into refrigerators at the factory. After leaving my “oh so wonderful career”, I sit here in the same chair at the same diner every single night of my miserable adult life. After chain-smoking twenty-one cigarettes and three and a half cups of coffee (which is honestly water dressed in brown), I slowly wander back to the same shit hole of an apartment that I like to call “home.”
No warm soul sits and awaits my arrival. No one to kiss hello. No one’s cigarette to light. The only thing that lives in my apartment besides the colonizing roaches is a cheap print of Jackson Pollock’s Convergence. Its vibrant expression of colors and life illuminates the ceiling where it is posted above my bed. The bed whose ONE indent I fall into each night.
Why can’t I be Jackson Pollock? Why can’t my face be all over time magazine? The fame, fortune, and respect would sure bring a lover into my life. All he does is throw paint aimlessly onto a blank canvas. Its crap, but I contradict myself.
Envy. I envy the nasty love birds flaunting all their happiness in front of my face. Sometimes I believe I enjoy this envy. Enjoy the sadness. The loneliness gives me something to complain about. Keeps me occupied. So for now, I’ll puff away on my Lucky Strikes, staring at the lovers, envying their lives, but ironically enjoying my sadness behind the rising smoke.
The Day Before We Remember
Versatile
Not only do I write/shoot journalistic, I also have an extreme fine arts side to my life. Writing prose passages as well as shooting beautiful scenes and beautiful people is actually what led me into journalism. But I can't lie, like any artist, my ultimate dream would be being an Andy Warhol type artist/socialite with multiple "superstars." I believe every great artist and writer has a muse; I most certainly have one. Shaye has inspired me in multiple different ways in my writing and photography. She IS my muse.
Kentucky Love
Advertisers step into elderly shoes
Goofy Music Innovator
Photo by Spencer Jenkins, LEO Weekly
